Hesschel’s Two Maimonides

The aim of this article is to describe and analyze the ways in which Maimonides appears in the work of Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972). Throughout his life, Heschel related to two distinct figures, who may be termed Maimonides and the Rambam, symbol of dry rationalism and hero of prophetic passio...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Marmur, Michael 1962- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Penn Press 2008
In: The Jewish quarterly review
Year: 2008, Volume: 98, Issue: 2, Pages: 230-254
Further subjects:B Maimonides
B Samuel Atlas
B Abraham Joshua Heschel
B Leo Strauss
B Julius Guttmann
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Summary:The aim of this article is to describe and analyze the ways in which Maimonides appears in the work of Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972). Throughout his life, Heschel related to two distinct figures, who may be termed Maimonides and the Rambam, symbol of dry rationalism and hero of prophetic passion., The article hopes to shed light on Heschel's understanding of his own enterprise, and to provide a view of Heschel's Maimonides in the context of other modern Jewish readings of Maimonides. Two Maimonides are to be found in The article touches upon Heschel's opposition to Maimonidean dogma, his placement of Maimonides within the typology contrasting Rabbi Ishmael with Rabbi Akiva, and the special role played in Heschel's work by the biographical and the individual. A brief discussion of Heschel's scholarly methods is followed by a consideration of Heschel's Maimonides along the axis established by Leo Strauss and Julius Guttmann. The article concludes with a consideration of the conceptions of prophecy and imitatio dei in Heschel's work, in an attempt to show that the role of Maimonides in Heschel's theological enterprise is both demonstrable and highly significant.
ISSN:1553-0604
Contains:Enthalten in: The Jewish quarterly review
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1353/jqr.0.0003