Jewish Philosophy and Its Critics

Catalog description

The early Christian theologian, Tertullian, rhetorically asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What agreement is there between the [Platonic] Academy and the Church?” By the medieval period, many Jewish thinkers were grappling with similar questions, often presuming a harmonious relationship between Athens and Jerusalem, but just as often objecting to the integration of the two. This 3-point seminar explores the development of a robust and diverse tradition of medieval Jewish philosophy from the ninth through the fifteenth centuries. Along the way, we will study some of the notable critiques of Jewish philosophy during this period and the heated controversies that they frequently generated. This course aims to familiarize students with the major periods, trends, and motivations of medieval Jewish philosophy, its relationship to philosophical traditions in medieval Islam and Christendom, the dynamic between philosophy and mysticism, the emergence of philosophical dogmatism, the problem of elitism and esotericism, and the robust debate over the place of philosophy in the Jewish tradition. We will devote a majority of class time reading and analyzing the primary sources. Texts written in Judeo-Arabic will be read in English translation, while Hebrew sources will be studied in the original. It is therefore critical that students have the requisite ability to read Hebrew texts (with a dictionary). Knowledge of Hebrew in any period (e.g. biblical, rabbinic, medieval, or modern) is a necessary starting point. Prior background in medieval Hebrew per se is not a prerequisite.