Few figures of Jewish intellectuality from the medieval world survive with as much perseverance as Maimonides of Cordoba today, in the 21st century. His main works continue to be a reference on very varied subjects, both philosophical as well as theological or scientific, and publications follow one another cyclically in which the interpretation of his postulates is updated or his life is analyzed.
The latest work in this sense has just been published by the Cordoba publishing house Almuzara and comes from the historian and professor at the University of Cordoba. Manuel Bermudez Vazquezspecializing in the study of the history of philosophy. This is an informative essay which, under the simple title of ‘Maimonides’traces a fascinating story of the vital and intellectual adventure of this great scholar born in Andalusian Cordoba and who left behind capital works of his time such as the “Mishneh Torah” or the famous ‘Guide for the perplexed.
It is undoubtedly a pleasant way of approaching this character who was so marked by his talent and his insatiable curiosity as well as the intolerance towards the Jews from which he suffered, and which led him to emigrate first from his native country then from the peninsula, to live for a few years in North Africa and finally to end his life in Cairo, Egypt.
Professor Bermúdez Vázquez explains in his work that Maimónides, born Moisé Ben Maimón in 1139, was highly appreciated “by Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars”. As he explains, he was an intellectual disciple of Aristotle and “he left the imprint of his own philosophical thought on the main path of medieval philosophy”.
Traditionally, Maimonides’ intellectual work was classified around four areas of human knowledge: astronomy, rabbinic literature, philosophy and medicine. However, the professor indicates that, although his contributions to medicine and astronomy cannot be ignored, “the main contributions by which Maimonides and his thought have survived throughout history have belonged to the first two fields, philosophy and rabbinism or rabbinic literature.
In the specialist’s opinion, “no other Jewish thinker has received greater attention than Maimonides. In fact, “intensive interpretation of his work began during his lifetime and generations of thinkers and researchers have devoted themselves to analyzing his writings.”
The influence of Maimonides’ thought continues to be fully valid, as this biographical essay reflects. “His philosophy represents the culmination of medieval Jewish thought and had a direct influence on Arab and Jewish thinkers, in addition to powerfully influencing the Christian scholasticism“, we explain.
Authors like Saint Thomas, Leibniz and Newton They commented on his work. But not only is the presence of Maimonides’ philosophy visible in these authors, but, as Professor Bermúdez explains, “the entire current of Jewish thought since the 13th century has been inevitably inspired” by the work of this thinker. “Maimonides is the authentic backbone of Jewish thought which has spanned so many centuries of history and which continues to survive within Hebrew and universal philosophical thought” and in authors such as Moses of Narbonne, Léon Hébreu, Spinoza, Buber or, already in the 20th century, the Lithuanian thinker and writer of Jewish origin Emmanuel Levinas.
Start of the project
Professor Bermúdez Vázquez explains that the origin of this work dates back to 2018 commissioned by Almuzara editions, in order to integrate it into its collection on Andalusian thought, which previously dealt with other philosophers such as Averroes. “I accepted with pleasure because I had already studied the work of Maimonides since 2004 and I always thought when reading it that it could be very useful to us today because his work is still very relevant today.”
The professor explains that in the work of the Cordovan thinker “truth is a fundamental concept” in the same way that today it is a very current subject, as well as “very important and current questions like his reflections on the body careabout the food or on the habits of rest“. “He was a very valuable doctor, so much so that even Sultan Saladin recommended him Richard the Lionheart“, explains Bermúdez.
The historian recalls that there is also a dark legend surrounding the character, derived from conversion to Islam whom he forcibly executed while in Fez and the problems this caused him when he eventually settled in Egypt, since he was forbidden to return to Judaism after professing Islam. “It is said that a Moroccan recognized him and that Maimonides had him killed using a hitmanbut I’m more in favor of the idea that he solved this problem thanks to the influence he had at the time,” he explains.
The specialist also highlights fundamental works of Maimonides such as the “Mishneh Torah” or the Second Torah, which he said is the key to Judaism as we know it today, and the “Guide for the Perplexed”, in which he tried to guide people who observed contradictions between science and faith. “He was a good person, who treated the palace as well as ordinary people like a doctor,” says the professor.
He also emphasizes his letter productionsince we have preserved a series of letters that he describes as “delightful” and in which he responded to the doubts and concerns sent to him by various synagogues in the Mediterranean which suffered from religious intolerance. The study also recalls that in the field of translation, Maimonides also maintains his influence and his conception of this discipline is studied in the faculties. I understood it as it is today: not as a literal translation of the words but as a translation of the deep mind of a text.
Professor Bermúdez Vázquez finally explains that the structure of the book, on which he worked with the publisher Ana Cabellohas as a common thread his eventful life full of anecdotesbut merged with the analysis of the era in which he lived and with his philosophical, theological and scientific production. He also remembers that Maimonides was proud of his Cordovan and Sephardic origin. “He is a Cordoba thinker, who contributed to making Cordoba one of the cities in the world with the greatest philosophical heritage,” concludes Bermúdez, encouraging readers to delve into the life and work of this fundamental character from medieval and persevering Cordoba. validity.
