Science in the Bet Midrash

Born and educated in the United States, Menachem Kellner (Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis, 1973) has lived in Israel for the last 30 years. Author, editor, or translator of 16 books and over 100 scholarly articles, Kellner’s most recent books include Science in the Bet Midrash and Maimonides’ Confrontation with Mysticism (2006).

• By Way of Personal Introduction. Acknowledgements. PART ONE: APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF MAIMONIDES. Introduction to Part One, Approaches to the Study of Maimonides. 1. Reading Rambam – Approaches to the Interpretation of Maimonides. 2. Strauss’ Maimonides vs. Maimonides’ Maimonides: Could Maimonides have been both Enlightened and Orthodox? 3. The Literary Character of the Mishneh Torah: On the Art of Writing in Maimonides’ Halakhic Works. 4. Is Maimonides’ Ideal Person Austerely Rationalist? PART TWO: RELIGIOUS FAITH AND DOGMA. Introduction to Part Two, Religious Faith and Dogma. 5. Heresy and the Nature of Faith in Medieval Jewish Philosophy. 6. What is Heresy? 7. Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles and the Structure of the Guide of the Perplexed. 8. Maimonides, Crescas, and Abravanel on Ex. 20:2: A Medieval Jewish Exegetical Dispute. 9. Could Maimonides Get into Rambam’s Heaven? 10. Returning the Crown to its Ancient Glory: Marc Shapiro’s The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles Reappraised. 11. The Virtue of Faith. PART THREE: SCIENCE AND TORAH. Introduction to Part Three, Science and Torah. 12. On the Status of the Astronomy and Physics in Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah and Guide of the Perplexed: A Chapter in the History of Science. 13. Maimonides on the Science of the Mishneh Torah: Provisional or Permanent? 14. Maimonides’ Allegiances to Science and Judaism. 15. Faith, Science, and Orthodoxy. PART FOUR: UNIVERSALISM. Introduction to Part Four, Universalism. 16. Chosenness, Not Chauvinism: Maimonides on the Chosen People. 17. Was Maimonides Truly Universalist? 18. Maimonides’ True Religion – for Jews, or All Humanity? 19. Spirituality and a Life of Holiness –How One Lives a Holy Life and Who Can Do It. 20. Epilogue. Works Cited. Index.

"The essays in this book are bold, clear, and authoritative. Anyone interested in Maimonides or the relation between science and religion will want to read them closely and then go back and read them again."