Maimonides: History, Philosophy, Legacy
Hosted By: My Jewish Learning
June 8th at 12:00 pm ET / 9:00 am PT
Delve into the world of Moses Maimonides with Professor Sarah Stroumsa, a renowned scholar from the Hebrew University and author of “Maimonides in his World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker”. This session explores Maimonides’ life and philosophy, while placing them in the context of the diverse Mediterranean cultures that shaped his worldview.
June 15th at 12:00 pm ET / 9:00 am PT
Moses Maimonides is known not only for having been a great jurist and communal leader, but also as a philosopher of the first order. His philosophical magnum opus, The Guide to the Perplexed, captured the imagination of his medieval successors throughout the Mediterranean as well as in Christian Europe, and it continues to excite audiences today. In this talk, Phillip L. Lieberman will explain Maimonides’ goal of connecting the Bible to a number of key philosophical premises. Lieberman will make particular reference to how Maimonides’ interests lay in explaining the Bible, even where the late antique and medieval rabbis develop Judaism in ways that might not seem anticipated by the Bible itself.
June 22nd at 2:00 pm ET / 11:00 am PT
Maimonides’ Guide to the Perplexed is a treasure of Jewish and world philosophy. Written in Arabic in the late 12th century, the work tackles questions very much alive today: How are we to understand the ideas of creation and revelation, the suffering of innocents, the nature of providence? How can we know God, and how can a transcendent God know us, care about us, and care for us? These are among the issues Lenn Goodman will address. Himself an active contributor to Jewish philosophy, Goodman has spent decades studying the Guide and finds that he continues to learn from its insights every day. The new translation and philosophical commentary prepared collaboratively by Goodman and his colleague Phillip Lieberman, will appear from Stanford University Press early in 2024, along with Goodman’s companion volume, A Guide to Maimonides’ Guide.
