Samuel Ibn Tibbon’s Commentary on Ecclesiastes
The Book of the Soul of Man
by James T. Robinson
Samuel Ibn Tibbon (c. 1165-1232) – the eminent translator, philosopher, and exegete – is most famous for his Hebrew translation of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed . However, he wrote original works as well, and laid the foundations for a distinctive philosophical-exegetical movement, what is today called ‘Maimonideanism’. James T. Robinson’s book includes a first English translation of Ibn Tibbon’s commentary on Ecclesiastes, which was the foundational work of the Maimonidean tradition. The translation, with full annotation, is accompanied by an introduction, which provides relevant historical, philosophical and exegetical background, explains difficult passages, and identifies Ibn Tibbon’s important contributions to the emergence of Maimonideanism. The author analyzes Ibn Tibbon’s sources and influences (in Jewish philosophy and exegesis and in Graeco-Arabic philosophy, especially al-Farabi and Averroes), discusses his theory and method of exegesis, and explains the main arguments and allegories of the work which relate to the problem of human perfection. Responding to and developing the various positions of his time – especially the infamous view of al-Farabi that immortality of the soul is nothing but an old wife’s tale – Ibn Tibbon argues that conjunction with the active intellect is possible but rare: only one man in a thousand can attain it. Thus, while the elite few should pursue it – through a life of study and contemplation – the many should focus on perfection in this world: they should eat, drink, and show the soul good.
James T. Robinson, Born 1965; 2002 PhD (Harvard University), Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations; Assistant Professor of the History of Judaism at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.
- By (author) James T Robinson
Other Titles in this Series
Konigspsalmen und karaische Messiaserwartung
Jefet ben Elis Auslegung von Ps 2.72.89.110.132 im Vergleich mit Saadja Gaons Deutung
Volume 17
Karaite Exegesis in Medieval Jerusalem
The Judeo-Arabic Pentateuch Commentary of Yusuf ibn Nuh and Abu al-Faraj Harun
Volume 26
Jewish Reception of Greek Bible Versions
Studies in Their Use in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Volume 23
Islamische Geschichte in judischen Chroniken
Hebraische Historiographie des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts
Volume 18
Similar Books
«Solazoxa festa, stradolze e stracomplia»
Festschrift für Raymund Wilhelm zum 65. Geburtstag mit Beiträgen zu Diskurstraditionen und mittelalterlicher Philologie
Volume 249
A Collaborative Tapestry in Honour of Shirley Ann Brown / Une fresque brodée en l’honneur de Shirley Ann Brown
The Bayeux Tapestry Seen by her Colleagues and Friends / La Tapisserie de Bayeux vue par ses collègues et amis
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
As Messianism Turns to Heresy
The Regenstein Chair Lectures On Lurianic Kabbalah and Shabbatai Tzevi at Hebrew Union College - Cincinnati
Behind the Scenes of Medieval Roofs
An Overview of the Roofing Systems of Italian Churches
Volume 90
Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes – Journal of Medieval and Humanistic Studies
Volume 51
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Innovation and Medieval Communities
The Circulation of Ideas and Practices in and out of the Town (1200-1500)
Volume 63
John Dunstaple Reading Boethius
John Dunstaple’s Annotations to Boethius’s “De institutione musica” in the Manuscript Oxford, Corpus Christi College Library, MS 118
Lobbying for Equality
Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Equality during the French Revolution
Medieval Debates on Foreknowledge: Future Contingents, Prophecy, and Divination
Acts of the XXVII Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM, Trento 12-15 September 2023
Volume 31
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
