Research Catalog

Maimonides on the "Decline of the generations" and the nature of rabbinic authority

Title
Maimonides on the "Decline of the generations" and the nature of rabbinic authority / Menachem Kellner.
Author
Kellner, Menachem Marc, 1946-
Publication
Albany : State University of New York Press, ©1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Request for On-site UseRequest Scan
How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?
TextUse in library BM529 .K45 1996Off-site

Details

Description
x, 137 pages; 24 cm.
Summary
  • Moses Maimonides, medieval Judaism's leading legist and philosopher, and a figure of central importance for contemporary Jewish self-understanding, held a view of Judaism which maintained the authority of the Talmudic rabbis in matters of Jewish law while allowing for free and open inquiry in matters of science and philosophy.
  • Maimonides affirmed, not the superiority of the "moderns" (the scholars of his and subsequent generations) over the "ancients" (the Tannaim and Amoraim, the Rabbis of the Mishnah and Talmud) but the inherent equality of the two. The equality presented here is not equality of halakhic authority, but equality of ability, of essential human characteristics.
  • . In order to substantiate these claims, Kellner explores the related idea that Maimonides does not adopt the notion of "the decline of the generations," according to which each succeeding generation, or each succeeding epoch, is in some significant and religiously relevant sense inferior to preceding generations or epochs.
Series Statement
SUNY series in Jewish philosophy
Uniform Title
SUNY series in Jewish philosophy.
Subject
  • Maimonides, Moses, 1135-1204
  • Maimónides > Religión
  • Maimonides, Moses
  • Tradition (Judaism)
  • Jewish law > Interpretation and construction
  • Judaism and science
  • Judaism and philosophy
  • Judaism > history
  • Tradición (Judaísmo)
  • Rabbijnse literatuur
  • Gezag
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Ch. 1. The Decline of the Generations -- Ch. 2. Maimonides on Nature and Miracles -- Ch. 3. Maimonides on Decline -- Ch. 4. Maimonides' Attitude towards the Authority of the Rabbis in non-Halakhic Matters -- Ch. 5. Maimonides on the "Advance" of the Generations -- Ch. 6. On the Nature of the Rabbis' Authority -- Ch. 7. Concluding (Quasi- ) Scientific Postscript -- Citations from Maimonides' Works.
ISBN
  • 0791429229
  • 9780791429228
  • 0791429210
  • 9780791429211
LCCN
95019975
OCLC
  • ocm32590389
  • 32590389
  • SCSB-2084755
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library