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  • © 2012

Reading Maimonides' Philosophy in 19th Century Germany

The Guide to Religious Reform

Authors:

  • First ever study of reception history in modern times of Maimonides' famous "Guide of the Perplexed"
  • Original daring claims and theories concerning the relation between religious reforms in Judaism and civic emancipation in Western Europe
  • Presents and discusses material written on Maimonides in nineteenth century Germany Serves as an intellectual history of the Reform and Conservative Movement in Judaism

Part of the book series: Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Philosophy (ASJT, volume 15)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction

    • George Y. Kohler
    Pages 1-31
  3. Maimonides: The Guide for the Reform Movement in Germany

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 33-33
  4. Maimonides – the Guide for the Reform Movement in Germany

    1. The Beginnings

      • George Y. Kohler
      Pages 35-55
    2. The First Reform Rabbis

      • George Y. Kohler
      Pages 57-86
    3. The Rabbinical Seminaries

      • George Y. Kohler
      Pages 87-127
    4. The Return to Philosophy

      • George Y. Kohler
      Pages 129-153
  5. Specific Problems in the Reception of Maimonides’ Philosophy in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Germany

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 155-155
  6. Specific Problems in the Reception of Maimonides’ Philosophy in Nineteenth-and Early Twentieth-Century Germany

    1. Divine Attributes – The Ethical Concept of God

      • George Y. Kohler
      Pages 157-185
    2. The Law

      • George Y. Kohler
      Pages 187-248
    3. Maimonides and Kant

      • George Y. Kohler
      Pages 249-307
    4. “Rambam or Maimonides”

      • George Y. Kohler
      Pages 309-341
    5. Conclusions

      • George Y. Kohler
      Pages 343-348
  7. Back Matter

    Pages 349-373

About this book

This book investigates the re-discovery of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed by the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement in Germany of the nineteenth and beginning twentieth Germany. Since this movement is inseparably connected with religious reforms that took place at about the same time, it shall be demonstrated how the Reform Movement in Judaism used the Guide for its own agenda of historizing, rationalizing and finally turning Judaism into a philosophical enterprise of ‘ethical monotheism’. The study follows the reception of Maimonidean thought, and the Guide specifically, through the nineteenth century, from the first beginnings of early reformers in 1810 and their reading of Maimonides to the development of a sophisticated reform-theology, based on Maimonides, in the writings of Hermann Cohen more then a hundred years later.

Authors and Affiliations

  • , FB 6, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

    George Y. Kohler

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access