Ebook Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds
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Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds
Ebook Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds
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Audible Audiobook
Listening Length: 19 hours and 59 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Gildan Media, LLC
Audible.com Release Date: February 19, 2009
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English, English
ASIN: B001TLRRE6
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
Among the many honorary titles applied to the Jewish sage Maimonides (1138 -- 1204) was the "Great Eagle" derived from the Book of Ezekiel. 17:3: "Thus saith the Lord God: The great eagle with the great wings and the long pinions and brilliant colors." In his biography, "Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds" (2008), Joel L. Kraemer examines the life and work of the Great Eagle, or the Great Rav to explain why Maimonides is held in high esteem and why he remains important. Kraemer is Professor Emeritus in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. His study of Maimonides began in 1947, at the age of 14. Kraemer has published books of Islamic thought and books for the specialist in Maimonides. Although his biography of Maimonides is lengthy and detailed, it is written to appeal at least as much to the interested educated reader as to the scholar. An intruiging aspect of this book is the sources on which it draws. Kraemer makes extensive use of what is known as the Cairo Genizah -- a body of 300,000 documents from the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo. These papers include many contemporary letters and manuscripts of Maimonides and much information about him and his times.Kraemer tries to show the continued importance of Maimonides. The book has an ecumenical cast, as Kraemer stresses the interaction between Muslim, Christian, and Jewish scholars in Maimonides's day and, in particular, Maimonides's heavy indebtedness to Muslim thought. On a related theme, Maimonides was a polymath and a renaissance figure who mastered medicine, the sciences, and logic as well as Jewish philosophy and law. He has become a model for many Jewish people in his combination of high secular and religious accomplishment. Again, Maimonides was deeply aware of what even in his time was developing as the conflict between science and reason on the one hand and religious faith on the other hand. He tried valiantly to reconcile the two in his famous late masterwork "The Guide of the Perplexed." Finally, Maimonides saw has age as tending towards degeneracy, with its increased secularization and loss of religious commitment. He was pessimistic about the religious state of his world. This theme too has echoes in our day.Even with the Genizah manuscripts, there are many gaps in the knowledge of Maimonides's life, particularly in his early years. Kraemer thus offers a combination of biography, history, as he explains the complex and changing Muslim world in which Maimonides lived, and exposition of Maimonides's works and thought. Kraemer sees Maimonides as endeavoring to "revolutionize Judaism by turning it into a religion of reason. Maimonides wanted to change Judaism from a religion rooted in history, in great events, such as the Exodus and revelation, to a religion implanted in nature and knowledge of natural beings, God's works rather than God's words." (p18)The book is arranged chronologically in five parts. The first two parts cover Maimonides's first 22 years when he lived in Spain. He then lived in Fez, Morocco for 5 years and in Acre for one year. He apparently converted to Islam under duress and fear for his life and did penance by a trip to the Holy Land. The final three parts of the book cover the 38 years that Maimonides spent in Egypt where he wrote his major works, was a physician to the ruling class, participated actively in Jewish communal and business life, wrote responsa on questions of Jewish law, and served as Head of the Jews among many other accomplishments.Political and personal details are interspersed with discussions of Maimonides's works. Some of the historical information is fascinating but difficult to follow. Besides his forced conversion to Islam, the most interesting personal information about Maimonides involves his relationship with his brother, David. David died during a shipwreck taking much of the wealth of Maimonides's family with him. Maimonides grieved over his death and was despondent and depressed for many years.Maimonides's reputation rests largely upon his writings. The best portions of Kraemer's book are those in which he discusses Maimonides's voluminous works, especially the Commentary on the Mishna, the Mishneh Torah, and the Guide of the Perplexed. Each of these books is difficult and profound.The Mishna is part of the Talmud -- called the oral law -- of traditional Judaism, and it includes discussions among the early sages of Jewish law. Maimonides's commentary written between 1161 -- 1168 discusses and summarizes in a philosophical way the teachings of the Mishna. It is best-known for its elucidation of the "Thirteen Principles of Faith" -- the first attempt to establish a creed for traditional Judaism. Controversial at first, Maimonides's thirteen principles have become part of Orthodoxy.The Misheh Torah. written between 1168 -- 1177, was an even more difficult and influential work. It was in fourteen lengthy volumes in which Maimonides created for the first time a code of Jewish law out of the welter of discussion in the Talmud. Part of Maimonides's reason for writing this work was to settle difficult questions of practice so Jews could devote time to the sciences. This work went far in the attempt to create a Judaism based upon rationalism. In Kraemer's discussion of the text, I was interested in his treatment of Maimonides's views on abortion. He avoids the temptation of reading current ideas on this difficult question into Maimonides.Maimonides's most famous work remains the Guide of the Perplexed. In this difficult, obscure book, Maimonides tried to resolve the apparent contradictions between science and reason and religious faith and to explain some of the parables and concepts that occur in the Bible. Maimonides was heavily influenced by Islamic thought and by Islamic commentators on Aristotle. The book is written in a deliberately difficult way, with apparent contradictions and esoteric teachings. Readers from Maimonides's time to our own have disagreed radically in its interpretation and in their views of Maimonides's own attitude towards religion. Kraemer's summary of the book draws many insightful parallels between Maimonides' approach to science and reason and that latter taken by Spinoza -- a thinker who was excommunicated by the Jewish community of the Netherlands and who was as far as possible from Jewish orthodoxy. With all this, one can only be hesitant in concluding that Maimonides succeeded in his avowed goal of harmonizing science and reason with religious faith. His attempt, however, has inspired many Jews and persons of other faiths.Kraemer's book concludes with a consideration of Maimonides as a physician, emphasizing his emphasis on the emotions, on ethical teachings and on the similarities of his teachings with stoicism.Kraemer has written a thorough and eloquent introduction to a great Jewish thinker. Reflection on what remains valuable in Maimonides's thought is a matter for each reader.Robin Friedman
This book has a way of taking the reader back to the 12th century and provides some very interesting content including translations of original documents that have survived all of these centuries. . It's written in a very scholarly style and somewhat difficult to understand. Unless the reader is an accomplished scholar an accompanying dictionary is a must. For this I found reading the book on a kindle enabled instantaneous definitions of the frequent unfamiliar words. This book is rather un-approachable to an everyday reader.
I purchased the Audible version, and about 2 or so hours into it I have decided not to listen to the remaining 18 hours. Not because it is a bad book, but for me, just not an engaging one. I would say if you want a very scholarly, and as far as I can tell, very well researched biography based on original sources, this may be satisfying. However, if you are hoping for something that brings Maimonides to life in a personal and interesting way, as I was, this may not be the book you want. I gave it three stars because I think it would be unfair to give it less, as it really does appear to contribute to the overall understanding of the man and the era, but again, from a scholarly and not human interest perspective.
There are few such comprehensive biographies of Maimonides as this. Maimonides' works, as the author intimates, were necessarily written with a degree of opacity as to shield himself from the critical eye of Islamic authorities of the day and as such, were never as accessible to me as a young student, perhaps because they weren't to my teachers as well. Maimonides truly modern understandings, his humanity when dealing with the judicial questions of the day as they affected his wards as an acknowledged leader of Jewry in his day are eye opening. The depths of his understanding of the sciences and the effort to impose a rationalism into Judaism of his times has endured to this day. The author wonderfully brings this somewhat remote larger-than-life character into focus.
An interesting and well written and researched book about a fascinating person.If you are all interested in this period or the history of jewish philosophy then this is a must have. Note the author makes the point that he consulted large numbers of sources in Arabic as well as in Hebrew so it represented an advance over prior biographies and study on Maimonides.
Gave a taste of the atmosphere of the places Rambam lived at the time.At times I felt I was listening to Rambam’s advice.After a few months I will start reading it again.I recommend it to an old Jew (like me) wanting more depth to the religion he learned as a child, and who is not in a hurry & willing to stop & ponder.I appreciated much from being guided by the references.The best books are not necessarily the best sellers; they are the ones most reread.
The subtitle speaks for the book, "The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds." Maimonides devoted the first 18 years of his life to Biblical studies – by which time he was already an 'internationally' known and respected scholar. After that he took up the study of the sciences (mathematics and astronomy), logic and philosophy. "It was scientific reasoning that became Maimonides' ultimate touchstone of truth" (page 66). Nevertheless, Maimonides' mind was first prepared and shaped by his Biblical studies. Small wonder that he is considered one of civilizations greatest minds. This is a well-written, comprehensive and significant book.Abraham RempelAuthor of "The Book of Nots in Science & Religion: a believer's guide to reality."Publication date: 2014.
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