Maimonidean scholarship at the end of the century
It is astounding how much scholars find to say about the writings of Maimonides.1. Amazon.com lists 120 books with the name “Maimonides” in the title. (Yahoo.com lists 95. The Arizona State University Library, whose collection in Judaica, especially in Jewish philosophy, is in no way distinguished,...
| Subtitles: | Review Essay |
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| Main Author: | |
| Contributors: | ; ; |
| Format: | Electronic Review |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Pennsylvania Press
[2002]
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| In: |
AJS review
Year: 2002, Volume: 26, Issue: 1, Pages: 93-107 |
| Review of: | Maimonides' political thought (Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, 1999) (Samuelson, Norbert Max)
Maimonides' political thought (Albany : State University of New York Press, 1999) (Samuelson, Norbert Max) Homo mysticus (Syracuse, N.Y : Syracuse University Press, 1998) (Samuelson, Norbert Max) Searching for a distant God (New York : Oxford University Press, 2000) (Samuelson, Norbert Max) Searching for a distant God (New York : Oxford University Press, 2000) (Samuelson, Norbert Max) |
| Further subjects: | B
Book review
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | It is astounding how much scholars find to say about the writings of Maimonides.1. Amazon.com lists 120 books with the name “Maimonides” in the title. (Yahoo.com lists 95. The Arizona State University Library, whose collection in Judaica, especially in Jewish philosophy, is in no way distinguished, possesses 107 books with the name “Maimonides” in the title.) That means that there a minimum of 120 books currently in print in the United States that deal with what Maimonides had to say. Similarly, the Philosopher's Index, whose subject matter is limited to scholarly essays in philosophy, dating back no further than 1940, lists 220 entries. The total list of written works on Maimonides, of course, is much larger. These 120 books and 220 articles are almost exclusively works written in English published in the final half of the twentieth century. This numerical breadth in itself suggests two things. First, it is not possible for any scholars to be sure that their coverage of the secondary material is complete. To remain current on all that is published about Maimonides is a full-time job, one that leaves little opportunity to actually write about him. Second, it is not conceivable for any Rambam scholars to think that what they publish is the “final word” on what Maimonides intended to say on any topic. If you want to take a critical stance you could say that what he wrote is too fuzzy for that, but I would say, more constructively, that Maimonides' writings are too rich in depth and complexity for us to ever exhaust what he wrote. That richness in itself is one of the reasons for studying and teaching Maimonides. It is a good indication why Maimonides' theology properly ranks among the greatest bodies of work in the history of philosophy. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-4541 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Association for Jewish Studies, AJS review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S036400940200003X |