TY  - BOOK
AU  - Kellner,Menachem
TI  - Torah in the Observatory: Gersonides, Maimonides, Song of Songs 
T2  - Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah
SN  - 9781934843802
AV  - BL 
PY  - 2010///]
CY  - Boston, MA : 
PB  - Academic Studies Press, 
KW  - PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Medieval
KW  - bisacsh
N1  - Frontmatter --; TABLE OF CONTENTS --; PREFACE --; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --; INTRODUCTION --; CHAPTER ONE. Providence and the Rabbinic Tradition --; CHAPTER TWO. Mosaic Prophecy: Maimonides and Gersonides --; CHAPTER THREE. Eschatology and Miracles --; CHAPTER FOUR. Creation, Miracles, Revelation --; CHAPTER FIVE. Song of Songs and Gersonides’ World --; CHAPTER SIX. Maimonides and Gersonides on Astronomy and Metaphysics --; CHAPTER SEVEN. Gersonides on the Song of Songs and the Nature of Science --; CHAPTER EIGHT. Politics and Perfection: Gersonides vs. Maimonides --; CHAPTER NINE. The Role of the Active Intellect in Human Cognition --; CHAPTER TEN. Imitatio Dei and the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge --; CHAPTER ELEVEN. Moses ibn Tibbon and Gersonides on Song of Songs --; CHAPTER TWELVE. Misogyny: Gersonides vs. Maimonides --; CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Gersonides and his Cultured Despisers: Arama and Abravanel --; AFTERWORD – PERSONAL REFLECTIONS --; WORKS CITED --; INDEX; restricted access
N2  - Rabbi Levi ben Gershom (Ralbag, Gersonides; 1288-1344), one of medieval Judaism's most original thinkers, wrote about such diverse subjects as astronomy, mathematics, Bible commentary, philosophical theology, "technical" philosophy, logic, Halakhah, and even satire. In his view, however, all these subjects were united as part of the Torah. Influenced profoundly by Maimonides, Gersonides nevertheless exercised greater rigor than Maimonides in interpreting the Torah in light of contemporary science, was more conservative in his understanding of the nature of the Torah's commandments, and was more optimistic about the possibility of wide-spread philosophical enlightenment. Gersonides was a witness to several crucial historical events, such as the expulsion of French Jewry of 1306 and the "Babylonian Captivity" of the Papacy. Collaborating with prelates in his studies of astronomy and mathematics, he had an entree into the Papal court at Avignon. Kellner portrays Gersonides, revered among Jews as the author of a classic commentary on the latter books of the Bible, as a true renaissance man, whose view of Torah is vastly wider and more open than that held by many of those who treasure his memory
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1515/9781618110183
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781618110183
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9781618110183/original
ER  -