Maimonides

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Students embark on a journey into medieval rabbinic theology through a close study of The Book of Knowledge. This canonical work, composed in twelfth-century Cairo by the Andalusian emigre Moses Maimonides, distills the vast domain of rabbinic theology into a concise legal code. The book treats central topics of religion—divinity, prophecy, cosmology, angelology, moral character, physical regimen, education, idolatry, repentance, and eschatology—in a philosophical vein. Students not only gain access to these central topics in medieval Jewish theology, but also consider the codification of these topics within the evolution of rabbinic thought, and its broader intellectual context within the medieval Islamic world. Maimonides (who was studied by a host of Christian scholastics) is of central importance for students of medieval theology and philosophy, and similarly relevant for students of comparative theology, systematic theology, as well as those researching the cultural history of the medieval Mediterranean. *Course contains a graduated study component to accommodate students learning at the advanced undergraduate level, graduate students, and any developing proficiency in medieval Hebrew.