Sparks Commentary: A review of “Maimonides and Medieval Jewish Philosophy” (audiobook)

Sunday, September 24, 2023

A review of “Maimonides and Medieval Jewish Philosophy” (audiobook)

Moses ben Maimon (better known as Maimonides) was one of the most important philosophers of the Middle Ages. He was a Jewish philosopher, but he also had a great effect on Christians and Muslims. Nonetheless, he was quite controversial in his own time, even amongst his fellow Jews. He criticized certain aspects of the era’s Jewish religion, and made many enemies by so doing. He was controversial enough that his books were burned by the authorities, sometimes at the request of his fellow Jews. This was ironic, because he lived in the Muslim Almoravid Empire, which was then fairly tolerant of the Jewish religion. Nonetheless, the Muslims would grant some of the requests to have his books burned, and some of those who had requested this burning later saw their own books burned as well. Such is the irony of censorship, then and now.

This audiobook talks about prior Jewish philosophy, some of which is now identified more with Christianity. For example, they talk about Philo and Origen, and the influence of the various Christians and Muslims among whom the Jews lived. But most importantly, they talk about Saadia Gaon, whom some consider to be the first Jewish philosopher. This audiobook credits Saadia with breaking new ground, and preparing the way for the work of Maimonides. I acknowledge that this is probably true. But Maimonides seems to have disagreed strongly with Saadia, so there is a certain irony in this. This audiobook tends to agree more with Maimonides than with Saadia. Moreover, it seems to be written by one of their fellow Jewish authors. Nonetheless, the author notes that relatively few of those who begin the works of Maimonides will end up finishing them, and few of those who finish his works will ever read them a second time. They are difficult works, even for those who agree with them.

Maimonides

At times, Maimonides seems to be a little elitist (and even arrogant), contemptuous of those who disagree with him. This is a common problem amongst academics, both then and now. Thus, Maimonides often threw diplomacy to the wind, attacking his opponents with rather personal insults. But his fellow Jews found much to admire about him, because he was a tireless advocate of the Jewish faith. Maimonides talked about the relationship between faith and reason, and between religion and philosophy. He lived in a Muslim society that was much influenced by Aristotle, and Maimonides shared their admiration for Aristotle. In general, Maimonides agreed more with Aristotle than he did with Plato. Maimonides also shows the influence of the various Muslims who interpreted Aristotle, such as Avicenna and Averroes. This same company covers these Muslim philosophers in another audiobook. More about that here. For now, let me focus more on Maimonides.

Maimonides

I went into this audiobook expecting that I would agree with Maimonides quite often. But after listening to this, I found that this was not the case, and that I had a number of disagreements with him. But I enjoyed listening to this audiobook anyway, and hearing about him from a true expert on Jewish philosophy. I’m very interested in Judaism, in part because I am an amateur Biblical scholar. For example, I’m learning Biblical Hebrew at the moment. This helped me to have a greater appreciation of the importance of the subject, even when I disagreed with Maimonides. Much of Maimonides’ work was actually written in Arabic, since he lived in the Arabic-speaking Almoravid Empire. Even many of his fellow Jews were native speakers of Arabic, and Maimonides himself seems to have been a native Arabic speaker. But he also had a command of Hebrew, and of the Jewish traditions. This makes him a great representative of the Jewish faith, giving him followers and admirers right up to the present day. This was a great introduction to his work, which is much recommended to anyone interested in the topic. It will help you to understand one of the most important religious philosophers in history.