Maimonides on Perfecting Perfection
This article addresses two critical questions concerning Maimonides's views on human perfection at the end of his Guide of the Perplexed. The first is: For those who have reached the highest category of perfectionintellectual perfection, apprehension of the divine, the divine sciencewhat pres...
| Published in: | Harvard theological review |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
[2017]
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| In: |
Harvard theological review
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Maimonides, Moses 1135-1204
/ Human being
/ Perfection
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BH Judaism NBE Anthropology TG High Middle Ages |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article addresses two critical questions concerning Maimonides's views on human perfection at the end of his Guide of the Perplexed. The first is: For those who have reached the highest category of perfectionintellectual perfection, apprehension of the divine, the divine sciencewhat prescription does Maimonides offer for perfecting that perfection, for solidifying the bond between them and God? I will argue: 1) that there is more than one methodthat Maimonides indeed specifies two distinct methodsfor stabilizing and intensifying the highest kind of perfection; 2) that the two methods yield two distinct ranks of perfect individuals; and 3) that Maimonides, in his attempt to perfect his own perfection, adopts the second method but achieves only the rank of those who employ the first. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-4517 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0017816017000141 |