While the great medieval philosopher, theologian, and physician
Maimonides is acknowledged as a leading Jewish thinker, his
intellectual contacts with his surrounding world are often
described as related primarily to Islamic philosophy. "Maimonides
in His World" challenges this view by revealing him to have
wholeheartedly lived, breathed, and espoused the rich Mediterranean
culture of his time.
Sarah Stroumsa argues that Maimonides is most accurately viewed
as a Mediterranean thinker who consistently interpreted his own
Jewish tradition in contemporary multicultural terms. Maimonides
spent his entire life in the Mediterranean region, and the
religious and philosophical traditions that fed his thought were
those of the wider world in which he lived. Stroumsa demonstrates
that he was deeply influenced not only by Islamic philosophy but by
Islamic culture as a whole, evidence of which she finds in his
philosophy as well as his correspondence and legal and scientific
writings. She begins with a concise biography of Maimonides, then
carefully examines key aspects of his thought, including his
approach to religion and the complex world of theology and
religious ideas he encountered among Jews, Christians, Muslims, and
even heretics; his views about science; the immense and
unacknowledged impact of the Almohads on his thought; and his
vision of human perfection.
This insightful cultural biography restores Maimonides to his
rightful place among medieval philosophers and affirms his central
relevance to the study of medieval Islam.
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