The Guide to the Perplexed: A New Translation

The Guide to the Perplexed is a landmark translation of a medieval Jewish text that explores the relationship between religion and science, logic, and revelation. Written by Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides, it is a masterwork that has influenced Jewish philosophy and continues to inspire inquiry and debate today. Goodman and Lieberman's translation provides historical context and philosophical enlightenment, making the work accessible to a wider audience.

Format: Hardback
Length: 704 pages
Publication date: 28 May 2024
Publisher: Stanford University Press

A groundbreaking new translation of the most influential text in medieval Jewish thought, the Guide to the Perplexed, has been released in English. Written in Arabic and completed around 1190, the Guide is a masterwork that navigates the straits between religion and science, logic and revelation. The author, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, known as Maimonides or Rambam, was a Sephardi Jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician. The Guide was written in the form of a letter to a disciple, but its perplexity aimed to cure anyone who sought to square logic, mathematics, and the sciences with biblical and rabbinic traditions. In this new translation by philosopher Lenn E. Goodman and historian Phillip I. Lieberman, Maimonides' warm, conversational voice and clear explanatory language come through as never before in English. Maimonides knew well the challenges facing serious inquirers at the confluence of the two great streams of thought and learning that Arabic writers labeled aql and naql, reason and tradition. The aim of the Guide, he wrote, is to probe the mysteries of physics and metaphysics. But mysteries, to Maimonides, were not conundrums to be celebrated for their obscurity. They were problems to be solved. Maimonides' methods and insights resonate throughout the work of later Jewish thinkers, rationalists, and mystics, and in the work of philosophers like Thomas Aquinas, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Newton. The Guide continues to inspire inquiry, discovery, and vigorous debate among philosophers, theologians, and lay readers today. Goodman and Lieberman's extensive and detailed commentary provides readers with historical context and philosophical enlightenment, giving generous access to the nuances, complexities, and profundity of the text.

Weight: 1428g
Dimension: 189 x 262 x 45 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780804787383