Philo’s Heirs: Moses Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas

Luis Cortest

Published by Academic Studies Press 2017

Philo’s Heirs: Moses Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas

Luis Cortest

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781618116314

Overview
Contents

About this book

The central claim of this book is that Philo of Alexandria’s philosophical method served as the model for Western philosophy for 1500 years. The author, through a careful examination of the works of Moses Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas, shows how this method worked and identifies its key elements.

Author / Editor information

Luis Cortest is professor of Medieval Spanish Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including The Disfigured Face: Traditional Natural Law and Its Encounter with Modernity.

Reviews

Shmuel Ben-Gad, George Washington University, Washington, DC:
Professor Cortest makes a good case that Philo’s philosophical approach to religion was picked up by many early Christian theologians (notably John Philoponus) and that this created the intellectual ambience in which Maimonides’ and Aquinas’ thought developed.

Moses Lapin:
Though a long millennium separates them, after opening with Philo, the heart of the book is dedicated to a comparison of Thomas Aquinas and Moses Maimonides in which Cortest uncovers a subtle genealogy that begins with Philo: how to read the Bible allegorically and do so through the lenses of Plato and Aristotle. All three thinkers ask: what is the role of religion in the establishment of politics and law, was the world created, what is God and does he shape world events? Rather than retrace the obvious, Philo’s Heirs encourages us to tease out the subterranean influences that animate the big questions of the western philosophic tradition and to think broadly, across large time periods and geographies, to answer these questions in our own day.

David Patterson, University of Texas at Dallas:
“In this deeply erudite study, Luis Cortest traces the influence of Philo on Christian thought from the Church Fathers to the Middle Ages. He analyzes the influence of the Greeks on Maimonides and of the Jews on Aquinas, demonstrating that the two are more closely interwoven than many might have believed. The relationship of Greek thought to Christian and Jewish thought is complicated. In this groundbreaking book, Luis Cortest turns to Philo to provide an erudite but clear account of that complex relationship. Cortest bridges a gap between the two traditions in ways that are much needed among Jewish and Christian thinkers today.”

Lenn Goodman, Vanderbilt University:
“Alfred North Whitehead famously called the history of philosophy in the West a series of footnotes to Plato. Harry Wolfson showed that much of that tradition consists not of footnotes but of colorful elaborations of the synthesis of Greek philosophy with biblical ideals forged by Philo of Alexandria. In this incisive book Luis Cortest traces the great tradition of religiously committed philosophy from Philo and Maimonides to Aquinas and beyond, pursuing not 'influences' alone but thematic affinities and conceptual commitments that bind the tradition together—insights and reasoning about God and creation, providence, natural law, and revelation. Cortest’s intelligent, thoughtful, and accessible exploration shows clearly that there is indeed a perennial Judaeo-Christian tradition and gives us reason to see that this robust tradition is alive and well today.”

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Acknowledgement of Outside Financial Support Publicly Available Download PDF	iv
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Chapter 1 The Marriage of Athens and Jerusalem: Philo of Alexandria Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 2 Christian Philosophy after Philo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
Chapter 3 The Rabbi and the Friar at a Glance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Chapter 4 The Divine Attributes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
Chapter 5 In the Beginning Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
Chapter 6 Divine Providence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
Chapter 7 Natural Law Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
Chapter 8 Prophecy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120

Language: English
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 136

eBook

Published: July 11, 2017
ISBN: 9781618116314