While the great medieval philosopher, theologian, and physician Maimonides is acknowledged as a leading Jewish thinker, his intellectual contacts with his surrounding world are often described as related primarily to Islamic philosophy. Maimonides in His World challenges this view by revealing him to have wholeheartedly lived, breathed, and espoused the rich Mediterranean culture of his time.Sarah Stroumsa argues that Maimonides is most accurately viewed as a Mediterranean thinker who consistently interpreted his own Jewish tradition in contemporary multicultural terms. Maimonides spent his entire life in the Mediterranean region, and the religious and philosophical traditions that fed his thought were those of the wider world in which he lived. Stroumsa demonstrates that he was deeply influenced not only by Islamic philosophy but by Islamic culture as a whole, evidence of which she finds in his philosophy as well as his correspondence and legal and scientific writings. She begins with a concise biography of Maimonides, then carefully examines key aspects of his thought, including his approach to religion and the complex world of theology and religious ideas he encountered among Jews, Christians, Muslims, and even heretics; his views about science; the immense and unacknowledged impact of the Almohads on his thought; and his vision of human perfection.This insightful cultural biography restores Maimonides to his rightful place among medieval philosophers and affirms his central relevance to the study of medieval Islam.

Preface xi Acknowledgments xvii Abbreviations xix Chapter One: Maimonides and Mediterranean Culture 1 Mediterranean Cultures 3 Maimonides as a Mediterranean Thinker 6 Horizons 13 Transformations in the Jewish World 18 Maimonides and Saadia 22 Chapter Two: The Theological Context of Maimonides' Thought 24 Islamic Theology 24 Heresies, Jewish and Muslim 38 Chapter Three: An Almohad "Fundamentalist"? 53 Almohads 53 Maimonides and the Almohads 59 Legal Aspects 61 Theology 70 Exegesis and Political Philosophy 73 Philosophy and Astronomy 80 Conclusion 82 Chapter Four: La Longue Duree: Maimonides as a Phenomenologist of Religion 84 Sabians 84 Maimonides as an Historian of Religion 106 "A Wise and Understanding People?": The Religion of the People 111 Chapter Five: A Critical Mind: Maimonides as Scientist 125 Medicine and Science 125 "Ravings": Maimonides' Concept of Pseudo-Science 138 Chapter Six: "From Moses to Moses": Maimonides' Vision of Perfection 153 "True Felicity": The Hereafter in Maimonides' Thought 153 Issues of Life and Death: The Controversy Regarding Resurrection 165 "Gates for the Righteous Nation": The Philosopher as Leader 183 Conclusion 189 Bibliography 193 Index 219