JWST208 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Saadia Gaon, Jewish Philosophy

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

Document Summary

What does it mean to be a jewish philosopher: how does the torah develop into thought-system that influences jewish. Philosophy: in addition to the written tradition, there is the oral tradition, which is not recorded, but passed down through words. Oral tradition may be the greatest difference between how jews view the bible versus how other religions view the bible. Jews don"t necessarily believe the bible is literal. Oral tradition began to become written, through the talmud. Decided to write down the oral tradition because people were forgetting: developed in roughly 400-500 b. c, saadya began writing roughly 400 years after the talmud was created. Many of his ideas come from the talmud: saadya becomes the head rabbi in baghdad, following in the footsteps of the creators of the talmud. What was happening in baghdad in the 10th century (when saadya was head rabbi): baghdad was like the philosophical university of the world during the 10th century.