Religious Tradition Depth Study 1 : Judaism
Explain the contribution/analyse the impact of Moses Maimonides
Born 1135 in Spain. Spain was under Muslim rule and all Jews were given the option of converting or migrating, family settled in Fez, Morocco.
He had a Jewish and secular education during a time of great social upheaval and Jewish persecution.
He believed the
Torah should be more understandable to the common person
He believed that we must seek to understand if we are willing to express our beliefs
Torah should not be interpreted literally, should be applied logically to individual circumstances
Rejected anthropomorphism as it was a human interpretation of God’s qualities : wrong.
He sought to consolidate Jewish communities in the
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This found the 13 articles of faith. It encouraged repressed Jews to continue practising their faith.
Highlighted the meaning of each Mishnah teaching in a simple systematic way, helping ordinary Jews to understand the Torah.
The 13 articles of faith are statements which Jews still recite to this day : Yidgal hymn.
Covered the knowledge of God and the Torah, reward, punishment and redemption; focused on God’s oneness and God’s power on all aspects of life. Impact It was ignored by Jews for years as it was initially controversial. Eventually became widely accepted, belief is obligatory in Orthodox Judaism 13 articles have been a guide to the principle beliefs of Judaism and have been incorporated into most Jewish prayer books
Guide for the Perplexed
Written in 1185 in Arabic. It showed that faith was compatible with reason, a philosophical writing in which he tried to bring philosophy and theology together; though he was once accused of heresy
Argued the nature of God (God is not physical), the nature of the universe (will eventually cease to exist), and the moral nature of the world (problem of evil, explains 613 mitzvot of the Torah).
He argued that religious belief should be logical and open to intellectual