Latest / Short History of the Christian Church / 057 - 26 The Jewish Philosophy

Transcript

057 - 26 The Jewish Philosophy · Short History of the Christian Church

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Part two, Chapter twenty six of Short History of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Christian Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: in the public domain, Chapter twenty six. The Jewish philosophy.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: The development of Jewish speculation was contemporaneous, with the Arabic
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: being confined to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It was
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the old Neoplatonism of Alexandria coming to life again and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: reappearing with intense vigor and Spain. There was no special
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: attachment to the Old Testament, but a gathering into one
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: of the various threads of Plato and other Greek thinkers
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and their interweaving with Jewish theology. The result was a
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: heterogeneous theology made up of the Old Testament, scriptures, and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the philosophical systems, but with a warm sympathy with Mohammedanism.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: It was of so complex a nature that neither Moses, Plato,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: nor Mohammed would have recogniz himself in any one of
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: its fundamental principles. Grammatical exegesis was one of the main
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: departments of Jewish philosophy. The leading representatives were Solomon Isaaci
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: of troyas Abin Ezra of Toledo, and the three Kamehi
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: of Narbonne. These men flourished between a d. Ten seventy
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: five and twelve thirty two. There was nothing brilliant in
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the achievements of any of them, or of those who
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: imitated them, but their critical tastes and the application of
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: exact methods to the expounding of the scriptures were of
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: great influence upon Christian scholars. There is reason to suppose
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: that this school of Jewish thinkers, though far removed from
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the great centers of Christian learning, were influential on the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: later rise of humanism and the general awakening of a
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: taste for the philological examination of the scriptural languages. Philosophical
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: speculation was the other wing of the Jewish eagle in
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the medieval period. Here the Jewish thinker dwelt with greatest pleasure.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: His field was broad. All systems and lands were combined. Christianity,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Greek philosophy, and Mohammedanism were a confused molten mass. These
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: elements produced the later Kabbalism. Jehudah Levi of Andalusia died
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: eleven fifty three had less sympathy with other systems than
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: with the Jewish. His Book of Kosi was a romance.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: It represents a king of the Kosaians and a Rabbi,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Isaac Sanger, who conduct a dialogue. The outcome is a
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: vindication of the Jewish religion. It is one of the
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: ablest defenses of Judaism ever written. It has been translated
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: into several languages and has been circulated in modern times.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Its author was the greatest Jewish poet of the Middle
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Ages and father in law of the greatest Grammarian Aben
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: ezra J Huda Levi was at once a poet, philosopher,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: and scholar. My Monides was the most gifted jew of
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the whole medieval period. He stands related to Jewish speculation
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: as Avarjos does to Arabic each supreme in his own field.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: There was a close bond of sympathy between them. The
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Jew was a disciple of the Arab my Monides was
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: born in eleven thirty five in Cordova. He mastered the
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Greek and Arabic systems of philosophy and became an industrious
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: author and profound thinker in many fields. Besides his devotion
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: to philosophy, he was skilled in mathematics, astronomy, medicine and
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Talmudic lore. He was an earnest and serious moral and
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: religious character. His works were very numerous in both Arabic
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: eas and Hebrew, but his most influential book was of
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: popular character, The Guide to the Perplexed. It was a
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: well planned attempt to reconcile Jewish theology and Heathen philosophy.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: It has exercised a powerful influence on that liberal development
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: of Judaism which has had such scope in modern times.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: End of chapter twenty six