Jewish Philosophical Polemics against Christianity in the Middle Ages
With a new Introduction
This meticulously researched study is based on a comprehensive reading of all the major Jewish sources from the Geonic period in the ninth century until the dawn of the Haskalah in the late eighteenth century. Its clearly written and carefully documented exposition of the philosophical arguments used by Jews to refute four central doctrines of Christianity (trinity, incarnation, transubstantiation, and virgin birth) makes a major contribution to a relatively neglected area of medieval Jewish intellectual history.
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Thorough and meticulously researched, this study is based on a comprehensive reading of philosophical arguments drawn from all the major Jewish sources, published and unpublished, from the Geonic period in the ninth century until the dawn of the Haskalah in the late eighteenth century.
The core of the book is a detailed discussion of the four doctrines of Christianity whose rationality Jews thought they could definitively refute: trinity, incarnation, transubstantiation, and virgin birth. In each case, Daniel Lasker presents a succinct history of the Christian doctrine and then proceeds to a careful examination of the Jewish efforts to demonstrate its impossibility. The main text is clearly written in a non-technical manner, with the Christian doctrines and the Jewish responses both carefully explained; the notes include long quotations, in Hebrew and Arabic as well as in English, from sources that are not readily available in English.
At the time of its original publication in 1977 this book was regarded as a major contribution to a relatively neglected area of medieval Jewish intellectual history; the new, wide-ranging introduction prepared for this paperback edition, which surveys and summarizes subsequent scholarship, re-establishes its position as a major work.
About the author
Daniel J. Lasker is Norbert Blechner Professor of Jewish Values at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, and is chair of the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought. His books include Jewish Philosophical Polemics Against Christianity in the Middle Ages (1977), The Refutation of the Christian Principles by Hasdai Crescas (1992), and, with Sarah Stroumsa, The Polemic of Nestor the Priest (1996).
Publication details
| Format | 23.5" x 15.5" (6'x 9') |
| Pages | 318 pages |
| ISBN | 978-1-904113-51-5 |
| Price | £17.95 / $29.95 |
| Date of publication | 1977, 26 April 2007 |
Contents
Introduction to the Second Edition
1 Introduction
General Principles
Philosophical Arguments
Exegetical Arguments - Historical Arguments - Rational Arguments
Procedure to the Followed
2 Sources
The Various Methods of the Polemicists
Exegesis of the Hebrew Bible - Exegesis of Rabbinical Literature - Attacks on
Christianity - Comparisons of Christian Doctrines with the New Testament -
Attacks on the Articles of Christianity - Comparisons of Christianity with the Principles of Philosophy
The Literary Style of the Polemics
Other Sources of Jewish Philosophical Arguments
The Christian Sources
3 The Use of Reason in Religious Debates
Explanations of Christian Belief in Irrational Doctrines
Maimonides’ Guidelines
The Polemical Approach of the Jewish Averroists
Criteria for Determining Logical Impossibility
Conclusions
4 Trinity
Trinity Implies Matter
The Divine Attributes Are Not Persons
Jewish Kalamic Refutations of the Trinity - Aristotelian Refutations
Generation Disproves Unity
The Specific Generation of Jesus - Eternal Generation of the Son
Syllogistic Logic Refutes the Trinity
Images of the Trinity
Conclusions
5 Incarnation
God is Incorporeal
God’s Incorporeality Precludes Incarnation - God Cannot be Limited in Place
God is Immutable
God’s Simple Unity Precluses Incarnation
A Union of Divinity and Humanity is Impossible
Types of Physical Union - The Person of Jesus
Conclusions
6 Transubstantiation
The Interpenetrability of Bodies
How Could the Body of Jesus Enter Bread? - How Could Jesus’ Large Body Fit
into Smaller Dimensions? - How Could Jesus Pass Through the Heavens Without
Damaging Them?
The Concepts of Number and Place
Simultaneity of Jesus’ Body on Many Altars Remaining One - Simultaneity of
Jesus’ Body Being in Many Places
The Concept of Motion
Motion in No Time is Impossible - One Body Cannot Be in Motion and Rest at
the Same Time
The Problem of Accidents
How Can Accidents be Without Subjects? - The Senses Must Not Be Deceived -
Substance Cannot become Accident, nor Accident Substance
Miscellaneous Arguments
Conclusions
7 Virgin Birth
The Interpenetrability of Bodies
Images of the Virgin Birth
Conclusions
8 Conclusions
Jewish Knowledge of Christianity
The Sources of Jewish Arguments
The Role of Philosophy in Jewish–Christian Relations
The Significance of the Medieval Jewish Philosophical Polemics Against
Christianity
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Citations
Reviews
'Has acquired the status of a classic. A great deal of new work has been published, however, in the past thirty years. The book is now reprinted by the Littman Library, with a new introduction by the author summarizing these more recent contributions to the subject, which include critical editions of classic texts as well as specialized studies and overviews . . . A substantial new bibliography completes the introduction. Thanks are due to the Littman Library for placing this important book before a new generation of readers.'
Nicholas de Lange, Journal of Jewish Studies
