Moses Maimonides:\u00a0A Very Short Introduction<\/a>,\u00a0Brann\u00a0presents the rabbi and philosopher\u2019s\u00a0cultural background, world and thought. He also offers a detailed picture of the cultural richness of the medieval Islamic Mediterranean and its Jewish communities.<\/p>\nBrann, who studies the intertwined cultural histories in the medieval Islamic Mediterranean, particularly Jewish and Muslim, said the key to understanding the life and work of Maimonides is to recognize how he applied the rational methods he used as a scientist and physician to all his work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe diagnostic and remedial method was no mere metaphor for confronting what ailed the body or soul of a person or society,\u201d Brann wrote. \u201cRather, Maimonides\u2019 scientific-philosophical perspective on human existence defined his understanding of the Torah\u2019s purpose in regulating individual well-being, communal welfare and social good that was his abiding concern and life\u2019s mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maimonides was born in Cordoba, Spain, and lived the first years of his life in\u00a0the intellectual center of al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) \u2013 the largest metropolis in Europe at the time. \u201cLike all human beings,Maimonides was shaped by his time and place,\u201d Brann said. \u201cArabic was his mother tongue and, as with other Jewish religious and literary intellectuals, he was deeply immersed in Arabo-Islamic culture alongside Jewish tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surviving letters written to him and from him show a portrait of a doting father to his one son, Abraham; a caring physician with a withering daily schedule; a bereaved older brother (his brother David drowned during a 1176-1177 sea voyage); and\u00a0a forceful communal leader.<\/p>\n
One of Maimonides\u2019 biographers refers to him as \u201cone of civilization\u2019s greatest minds,\u201d Brann said.\u00a0Central to the book is Maimonides\u2019 written canon.\u00a0Beginning with his \u201cCommentary on the Mishnah\u201d\u00a0and culminating in the 14-volume \u201cMishneh Torah\u201d\u00a0(\u201cCode of Jewish Law\u201d), Maimonides systematized all of rabbinic law.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this monumental work, Maimonides reorganized and tried to finalize Jewish law in its entirety to make it accessible to people without rabbinic expertise,\u201d Brann said. \u201cHis other innovation was to incorporate basic theological principles into a legal corpus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maimonides also wrote many other works in several disciplines for both elite and popular audiences, including many short works on medical issues.<\/p>\n
In his own time,\u00a0Maimonides was a revered yet controversial figure, Brann said.\u00a0He endeavored to rid his community of popular superstitious, intellectually and religiously unfounded beliefs and practices. He was also criticized for presenting his \u201cCode of Jewish Law\u201d\u00a0as authoritative and for the \u201cGuide for the Perplexed,\u201d his great philosophically minded book addressed to the intellectual elite.\u00a0Today, many read him selectively or in a predetermined manner.<\/p>\n
Above all, Moses Maimonides was a \u201creligious humanist par excellence,\u201d Brann said. \u201cIn teaching, I\u2019m drawn especially to the many places in his various works which reflect that perspective,\u201d he said, \u201cas well as those in which he insists that science, philosophy and Torah lead to true felicity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kate Blackwood is a writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moses Maimonides (1138-1204),\u00a0one of the most significant intellectual figures of the medieval period,worked as a physician, thought like…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":182567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-182566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115106934077126138","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}