Converts, heretics, and lepers : Maimonides and the outsider
James Diamond's new book consists of a series of studies addressing Moses Maimonides' (1138-1204) appropriation of marginal figures--lepers, converts, heretics, and others--normally considered on the fringes of society and religion. Each chapter focuses on a type or character that, in Maimonides' hands, becomes a metaphor for a larger, more substantive theological and philosophical issue. Diamond offers a close reading of key texts, such as the Guide of the Perplexed and the Mishneh Torah, demonstrating the importance of integrating Maimonides' legal and philosophical writings. Converts, Heretics, and Lepers fills an important void in Jewish studies by focusing on matters of exegesis and hermeneutics as well as philosophical concerns. Diamond's alternative reading of central topics in Maimonides suggests that literary appreciation is a key to deciphering Maimonides' writings in particular and Jewish exegetical texts in general. --Publisher description
Print Book, English, ©2007
University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Ind., ©2007
Electronic books
xiii, 343 pages ; 23 cm
9780268025922, 0268025924
165406889
The convert (ger): metaphor of Jewishness
The leper: illness as contemplative metaphor
Elisha ben Abuyah and the hubris of the heretic
The king: the ethics of imperial humility
The sage/philosopher: a solitude of universalism
God, the supreme outsider: indwelling (shekhinah) as metaphor for outdwelling
Deconstructing God's indwelling: the challenge to Halevi
Sabbath: the temporal outsider