JWST208 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Philosophical Fiction, Kuzari, Saadia Gaon

• School: University of Delaware
• Department: Jewish Studies
• Course: JWST208
• Professor: Eli Gurevitz

Document Summary

A discussion of rabbi"s from around 700 b. c. to roughly a thousand years after. Records cases and discussion about the cases. Like law precedents: saadya became one of the first people to write organized religious doctrine. Or was he a jewish philosopher: many thought philo was christian and preserved his thoughts as christian. Does his framework fit into the traditions: perhaps the first jewish philosopher, but no one knew about him enough to respond to him. 5 books more like 5 different discourses. Born in 1075: volatile time in spain, spain starts off as a christian country, but makes its way towards islam, spain was a very developed country in terms of culture, philosophy, and intellectualism. Halevi tries to give his jewish brethren a voice: often comes off as self-righteous or self-promoting, viewed jews as being despised by others because they were a minority group. Halevi was a wealthy physician, and well-respected.