Converts, Heretics, and Lepers

Maimonides and the Outsider
Erscheinungsjahr 2007
ISBN: 978-0-268-02592-2
Verlag: University of Notre Dame Press

Buch, Englisch, 362 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 524 g

James Diamond's new book consists of a series of studies addressing Moses Maimonides' (1138-1204) appropriation of marginal figures - lepers, converts, heretics, and others - normally considered on the fringes of society and religion. Each chapter focuses on a type or character that, in Maimonides' hands, becomes a metaphor for a larger, more substantive theological and philosophical issue. Diamond offers a close reading of key texts, such as the ""Guide of the Perplexed"" and the ""Mishneh Torah"", demonstrating the importance of integrating Maimonides' legal and philosophical writings. Converts, Heretics, and Lepers fills an important void in Jewish studies by focusing on matters of exegesis and hermeneutics as well as philosophical concerns. Diamond's alternative reading of central topics in Maimonides suggests that literary appreciation is a key to deciphering Maimonides' writings in particular and Jewish exegetical texts in general.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Diamond, James A.

Über Autor(innen)

James S. Diamond teaches in the Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University. He combines two personal and professional personae: a rabbi and an academician. Rabbi Diamond was ordained from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University in Bloomington. In recent years, he has taught the Tanakh course in the Me'ah program, a two-year intensive adult Jewish learning program which is sponsored by the Hebrew College of Boston. Stringing the Pearls grew out of this Me'ah program course.