Jewish thought, Jewish philosophy, Jewish theology, the philosophy of Judaism, medieval Jewish philosophy, Jewish medieval philosophy – finding a term, a category that can encompass the very rich and complex collection of theoretical writings produced by Jews during the medieval and early modern periods has never been easy. After all, aren’t philosophy and religion essentially different things, representing completely different worlds of discourse, competing with each other, contradictory by nature, perhaps mutually exclusive? What exactly happens when they are brought together? Can philosophy be Jewish, and if so, what makes it Jewish? Is the language determinative in some way – Hebrew or Judeo-Arabic? The religious practices and affiliations of the author? The use of biblical verses and rabbinic dicta to frame the discussion or used as embellishment? And what makes it philosophy? Is putting philosophy and Judaism together a fundamentally apologetic exercise, a defense of Judaism using the language of the majority culture, or does it create something new, something different, greater than the sum of the parts, an original kind of thought system generating completely new ideas and problems? Does adding the qualifier “Jewish” or “Hebrew” to “philosophy” opens it up somehow to new possibilities?
These questions are, of course, as old as the academic study of Judaism and Jewish thought. They have influenced the way histories of Jewish philosophy have been written and helped define a canon of sorts, a relatively small selection of works recognized clearly for their philosophical character based on the discursive form of argumentation, engagement with the prevailing philosophies of their times, the topics discussed, or questions posed. The usual suspects in this canon, often classified in relation to contemporary trends: Saadia Gaon’s Book of Beliefs and Opinions (the model of a Jewish Kalam), Solomon ibn Gabirol’s Fons vitae (the model of Jewish Neoplatonism), Bahya b. Paquda’s Duties of the Hearts (the model Jewish philosophical-sufi manual), Judah Halevi’s Kuzari (the model philosophical defense of Judaism against philosophy), Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed (a model of Jewish Aristotelianism), Gersonides’ Wars of the Lord (the model of a Jewish Aristotelian philosophical-theological summa); Hasdai Crescas’ Light of the Lord (the model work of Jewish anti-Aristotelianism). And this “canon” is readily available in serviceable editions and relatively accessible English translations, though none of them facing page (and many of the translations are desperately in need of a remake). These writings, moreover, especially Maimonides’ Guide, have been assimilated into a larger world of teaching, research, and comparative study.
The same cannot be said of dozens of other works by Jews in the medieval and early modern period, written in Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew, lesser known but no less important or influential in their own time and beyond; some are edited, but mostly they are untranslated, and many have never been published at all, still languishing in manuscript collections. These are fresh and exciting works, original and innovative, in fact sometimes more innovative than the “canonical” works. They represent various stages in the development of Jewish philosophy (and philosophy in general), opening up new perspectives as they approach their subjects in creative, experimental ways in terms of method, literary form, the ideas they present and focus on, the way the ideas are presented through Jewish texts or vice versa. The fact that these works are not well known, mostly not available, has led to a skewed perception of Jewish philosophy with many missed opportunities for teaching it to a new generation and bringing it into the larger discourse about philosophy and religion more generally. Jewish philosophical texts, in other words, have not taken their proper place within the history of philosophy more generally.
How to address the problem, repair the defect? There is only one way to do this directly, which is to create an expanded library of Jewish philosophy with reliable editions and accurate translations on facing page, a reworking of some of the known texts but more importantly the inclusion of works that have never been translated or published at all.
The scale of this project is quite ambitious. Seven centuries ago, three generations of the Ibn-Tibbon family translated dozens of philosophical and scientific works from Arabic to Hebrew. The impact of the Ibn Tibbon translations was huge. We aim at a similar, field-changing, event.