books by Kenneth Seeskin (philosophy companion cambridge)

books by Kenneth Seeskin

books:

Autonomy in Jewish Philosophy
Kenneth Seeskin

Cambridge University Press, 2001

Although it is customary to view Judaism as a legalistic faith leaving little room for free thought or individual expression, Kenneth Seeskin argues that this view is wrong. Looking at classic texts from Biblical, Rabbinic, and philosophical literature, Seeskin shows that Judaism has always respected freedom of conscience and assigned an important role to the power of human reason. Clear and concise, this book offers a refreshing alternative to ...

No Other Gods: The Modern Struggle Against Idolatry
Kenneth Seeskin

Behrman House Publishing, 1995

Maimonides on the Origin of the World
Kenneth Seeskin

Cambridge University Press, 2006

Although Maimonides' discussion of creation is one of his greatest contributions - he himself claims that belief in creation is second in importance only to belief in God - there is still considerable debate on what that contribution was. Kenneth Seeskin takes a close look at the problems Maimonides faced and the sources from which he drew. He argues that Maimonides meant exactly what he said: the world was created by a free act of God so that ...

Jewish Philosophy in a Secular Age
Kenneth Seeskin

State University of New York Press, 1990

Clearly written, historically sophisticated, Jewish Philosophy in a Secular Age presents a running dialogue between a rationalist understanding of religion and its many critics, ranging from Descartes and Hume to Kierkegaard, Buber, and Fackenheim. The author confronts such classical problems as divine attributes, creation, revelation, suspension of the ethical, ethics and secular philosophy, the problem of evil, and the importance of the ...

Religion of Reason: Out of the Sources of Judaism (American Academy of Religion Texts and Translations Series)

1 review
Hermann Cohen

An American Academy of Religion Book, 1995

Best Book On Judaism
If you know absolutely nothing about Judaism, you will not get much out of this book. The best way to understand Judaism is to read Book Five of the TORAH a number of times, allowing yourself to forget any Christian preconceptions. Why, for instance, did the Chief Rabbi of Israel rule that a disruptive child should be removed from class, while the US Government considers such disruption a ...

Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed

4 reviews
Kenneth Seeskin

Behrman House Publishing, 1991

Best introductory guide to the writer
While I agree that this is a wonderful book, I find the previous reviews on this book incomprehensible. Maimonides's writings are not at all obvious, and Maimonides himself repeatedly claimed that his philosophical writings must never be taken at face value. Rather, Maimonides continues, he is fearful of how the ignorant will not be able to understand certain philosophical concepts, and he is ...

The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)
Kenneth Seeskin

Cambridge University Press, 2005

Moses ben Maimon, known to English speaking audiences as Maimonides (1138?1204), represents the high point of Jewish rationalism in the middle ages and played a pivotal role in the transition of philosophy from the Islamic East to the Christian West. His greatest philosophical work The Guide of the Perplexed had a decisive impact on all subsequent Jewish thought and is still the subject of intense scholarly debate. An enigmatic figure in his own ...

Searching for a Distant God: The Legacy of Maimonides
Kenneth Seeskin

Oxford University Press, USA, 2000

Monotheism is usually considered Judaism's greatest contribution to world culture, but it is far from clear what monotheism is. This work examines the notion that monotheism is not so much a claim about the number of God as a claim about the nature of God. Seeskin argues that the idea of a God who is separate from his creation and unique is not just an abstraction but a suitable basis for worship. He examines this conclusion in the contexts of ...