Maimonides: Guide for Today's Perplexed

Kenneth Seeskin, Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Northwestern University, recognizes that Maimonides classic book on philosophy The Guide of the Perplexed is difficult reading for most people. It is long; made up of three books with 178 chapters. Secondly, Maimonides never intended that an insufficiently educated general audience should read it. He expected that his readers knew the sacred books of Judaism, the classics of Greek philosophy and the commentaries written on these classics. The third problem is that this book was composed in the twelfth century when science was radically different than it is today. Seeskin states that he intends to make Maimonides clear to modern readers. He does so by writing in clear English and by clarifying each point with examples from modern life. What is idol worship? Maimonides contends that the Torah considers idolatry to be the most reprehensible wrong. It is another name for ignorance, for disregarding what is rational. People can only worship God when they abandon superstition and other forms of ignorance and seek to understand God and the universe in a rational way. In a word, Maimonides felt that Judaism is a religion that teaches the truth. If people think that the Jewish faith is a belief system for which there is no supporting evidence, only blind reliance on tradition, they are wrong; this is not Judaism. This Maimonidean teaching becomes clear when we understand several of his ideas. God has no body and human functions Seeskin begins his book, as does Maimonides in his Guide, by stating that God has no physical form and does not act like a human being. Since God has no eyes, feet, and mouth, God does not see, move about or speak. When the Torah uses such terms as God looking, going up and down, coming near, speaking, and creating humans in the divine image, Scripture is speaking figuratively. The Bible does not intend that these words be taken literally because if they were taken literally, they would be describing a God with a body or doing an act that implies that God has a body. As in English, God "looking" in the Bible does not mean that God has eyes, it should be understood as thinking, as in "I see your point." When the prophet Isaiah says in chapter 6 that he saw God, he means that he understood something about God. Similarly, when the Bible states that God "comes down," it means that there is a divine revelation, and "going up" means that the revelation ended, as in "she moved on to higher mathematics." God did not move. When Scripture writes that God is "coming near" it means that the person begins to understand, as in "the doctors are getting closer and closer to finding a cure." When a prophet hears God "speaking," he is thinking that he understands what God wants him to do. God has no mouth. The statement that humans are created in "God's image" does not imply that God has a physical form, but that humans are given intelligence. Thus the relationship between humans and G

The title of the book does not make it quite clear whether the book is strictly about Maimonides' work - this is what it is - or a commented translation.

While I agree that this is a wonderful book, I find the previous reviews on this book incomprehensible. Maimonides's writings are not at all obvious, and Maimonides himself repeatedly claimed that his philosophical writings must never be taken at face value. Rather, Maimonides continues, he is fearful of how the ignorant will not be able to understand certain philosophical concepts, and he is afraid that a straightforward discussion of certain religious/philosophical truths will cause many people to lose faith altogether. Also, Maimonides was fearful of repression by the "orthodox" Jews of his day. Then, as now, theological innovation was condidered heresy by them. Therefore Maimonides explicitly states that several of his controversial positions will only be alluded to, and "the wise will understand". Now - as then - many people are totally unable to understand Maimonides views on this subject, as they assume that his views were more or less "orthodox." (They were not).This book by Prof. Seeskin is a good introduction to Maimonides thought. For a good introduction to why Maimonides was so controversial (both then and now), see the entry under "Maimonodean Controversy" in the Encyclopaedia Judaica. For another important discussion of the implications of Maimonide's views, see "Must a Jew Believe Anything?" by Menachem Kellner.

This volume is an excellent introduction to the philosophy/theology of Moses Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, or the "Rambam"). Seeskin's presentation is lucidly clear, accessible to the layperson, and blessedly free of Straussian persecution-and-the-art-of-writing searches for "hidden meanings." Seeskin levels some pointed critiques against this entire mode of interpretation and quite sensibly treats the Rambam as though he meant what he wrote. The result is a fairly short, not-overly-technical overview of the thought of the man who was undeniably far and away the greatest philosopher in Jewish history -- and, moreover, a readable introduction to systematic theology in general. Highly recommended.

Kenneth Seeskin here presents a clear and straightforward reading of Moses Maimonides that can serve as an accessible (if not terribly deep) introduction to the thought of Judaism's greatest philosopher. Seeskin intentionally distances himself from the Straussian persecution-and-the-art-of-writing school of interpretation and wastes no time looking for "hidden meanings" buried several levels below the explicit text. The Rambam meant what he said and said what he meant; Seeskin's exposition of that meaning is lucid and intelligible.