Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed addressed Jews of his day who felt challenged by apparent contradictions between Torah and science. We Are Not Alone: A Maimonidean Theology of the Other uses Maimonides’ writings to address Jews of today who are perplexed by apparent contradictions between the morality of the Torah and their conviction that all human beings are created in the image of God and are the object of divine concern, that other religions have value, that genocide is never justified, and that slavery is evil. Individuals who choose to emphasize the moral and universalist elements of Jewish tradition can often find support in positions explicitly held by Maimonides or implied by his teachings. We Are Not Alone offers an ethical and universalist vision of traditionalist Judaism.
Menachem Kellner is Chair of Shalem College, Jerusalem’s Department of Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Wolfson Professor of Jewish Thought (emeritus) at the University of Haifa. He is the author, editor, or translator of two dozen books (including two published by Academic Studies Press) and close to two hundred articles in medieval and modern Jewish thought.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsPreface1. Jewish Voices Rejected; A Jewish Voice Affirmed2. We Are Not Alone3. Election/Chosen People4. The Convert as the Most Jewish of Jews5. Aher—then, Now, and in the Future: Othering the Other in Judaism6. Tolerance7. ChristianityConclusionBibliography