{"product_id":"maimonides-on-the-decline-of-the-generations-and-the-nature-of-rabbinic-authority-suny-series-in-jewish-philosophy-suny-series-jewish-philosophy-9780791429228","title":"Maimonides on the Decline of the Generations and","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eShows to what extent and in what fashion Jews are bound to accept the opinions and the pronouncements of religious authorities.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMoses Maimonides, medieval Judaism''s leading legist and philosopher, and a figure of central importance for contemporary Jewish self-understanding, held a view of Judaism which maintained the authority of the Talmudic rabbis in matters of Jewish law while allowing for free and open inquiry in matters of science and philosophy. Maimonides affirmed, not the superiority of the moderns (the scholars of his and subsequent generations) over the ancients (the Tannaim and Amoraim, the Rabbis of the Mishnah and Talmud) but the inherent equality of the two. The equality presented here is not equality of halakhic authority, but equality of ability, of essential human characteristics.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn order to substantiate these claims, Kellner explores the related idea that Maimonides does not adopt the notion of the decline of the generations, according to which each succeeding generation, or each succeeding epoch, is in some significant and religiously relevant sense inferior to preceding generations or epochs.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"State University Press of New York (SUNY)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51038149509463,"sku":"9780791429228","price":20.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/maimonides-on-the-decline-of-the-generations-and-the-nature-of-rabbinic-authority-suny-series-in-jewish-philosophy-suny-series-jewish-philosophy-9780791429228","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}