Maimonides's "Guide" on Obstacles to Knowledge, Being, and Action

Maimonides's GUIDE OF THE PERPLEXED (completed ca. 1191 CE) is among the most important and elusive works in the history of Judaism and philosophy. Among the greatest difficulties has been determining what genre of writing it belongs to. Leo Strauss challenged the contemporary consensus that it is a work of "Jewish philosophy." Rather, the GUIDE is first and foremost a defense of the Law, or what his predecessor, whom he praised highly, Alfarabi identified as the art of kalam or dialectical...