Abstract
Inclusivism sees other faiths as included within Jewish concepts, especially the concept of God as a philosophic monotheism. This theological monotheism allowed them to treat the first cause doctrine of the philosophers, the god of Plato and Aristotle, Christian Trinitarians, and all other people of faith as one essential unique God, even though these non-Jewish believers might have an incorrect view of the attributes of God. This inclusivism works because medieval Jewish thinkers understood the Bible as teaching a doctrine of philosophic monotheism (e.g., they understood Isaiah’s vision of God’s providence as a cosmological argument). In addition, inclusivism can view that the other religion are derivation of the Jewish concepts of revelation, ethics, or messianism. For inclusivists the biblical knowledge of these ideas were spread by the daughter religions of Christianity and Islam.
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Notes
On the ability of gentiles receiving revelation provided a distinction is made between prophets and ordinary revelation, see Robert Eisen, “The Problem of the King’s Dream And Non-Jewish Prophecy in Judah Halevi’s ‘Kuzari,’” JJTP 3, 2 (1994): 231–47.
See also Charles Manekin, “Hierarchy and Race in the Thought of Judah Ha-Levy,” in Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Medieval Philosophy, 1992 (Louvian: Peters, 1996).
There is a large literature on Maimonides’ attitude toward other religions including: David Novak, Maimonides on Judaism and Other Religions (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1997).
Gerald Blidstein, “The Status of Islam in Maimonidean Halakhah,” in Studies in Halakhic and Aggadic Thought (Beer Sheva: Ben Gurion University Press, 2004), 237–47;
Stephen D. Benin, “The Search for Truth in Sacred Scripture; Jews, Christians, and the Authority to Interpret,” in Jane Dammen McAuliffe et al., eds, With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 13–32;
Yosef Kapah, “Islam and the Relation to Muslims in Maimonides’ Teachings” [Hebrew], Mahanayim 1 (1992): 16–23;
A. Hacohen, “Islam and Its Believers” [Hebrew], Mahanayim 1 (1992): 41–5;
A. Sloshberg, “The Relationship of Maimonides to Islam,” Paamim 42 (1990): 42–5;
George F. Hourani, “Maimonides and Islam Studies,” in William M. Brinner and Stephen David Ricks, eds, Studies in Islamic and Judaic Traditions (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986), 153–66;
Howard Kreisel, “Maimonides on Christianity and Islam,” Jewish Civilization III (1985): 153–62.
Moses Maimonides, Teshuvot ha-RaMBaM, ed. Joshua Blau (Jerusalem: Mekitse Nirdamim, 1960), 284f.
Nahmanides, Writings & Discourses, ed. Charles Chavel (New York: Shilo Pub. House, 1978).
Isaac Abarbanel, Sefer Yeshuot Meshiho (Jerusalem, 1967), 74b;
David Kimchi, Commentary of David Kimchi on Isaiah (New York: AMS Press, 1995) 159: 7.
Sid Z. Leiman, “Abarbanel and the Censor,” Journal of Jewish Studies 19 (1968): 49–61.
On the censorship of Abarbanel, see Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, “Censorship, Editing, And The Reshaping of Jewish Identity: The Catholic Church and Hebrew Literature in the Sixteenth Century,” in Allison Coudert and Jeffrey S. Shoulson, eds, Hebraica Veritas?: Christian Hebraists and the Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), 125–155.
Moses Maimonides, The Eight Chapters of Maimonides on Ethics (Shemonah Perakim), trans. Joseph Isaac Gorfinkle (New York: Columbia University Press, 1912).
Yaakov Emden, Seder Olam Rabbah veZuta, cited in Chapter 1 of Harvey Falk, Jesus The Pharisee: A New Look atthe Jewishness of Jesus (New York: Paulist Press, 1985).
On the full text of Emden’s approach to Christianity with the eighteenth-century discussions retained, see the superb new critical edition of the Hebrew text by Li or Gottlieb, “The Breaking of Those who Lead Astray by Rabbi Yaakov Emden, First and Second Editions, with Introduction, Textual Comparisons, and Explanatory Notes,” in Binyamin Ish Shalom and Amihai Berholts, eds., Be-darkhe Shalom: iyunim be-hagut Yehudit, Mugashim le-Shalom Rosenberg (Jerusalem: Beit Morahsa, 2007), 295–321.
For those who cannot read the Hebrew edition, see Moshe Miller, “Rabbi Jacob Emden’s Attitude Toward Christianity,” in Michael A. Shmidman ed. Turim: Studies in Jewish History and Literature: Presented to Dr. Bernard Lander (New York: Touro College Press—KTAV Pub., 2007), 105–36.
Cited in Eugene J. Fisher, A.James Rudin, and Marc H. Tanenbaum, Twenty Years of Jewish-Catholic Relations (New York: Paulist Press, 1986), 69, 101.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, No Religion is an Island: Abraham Joshua Heschel and Interreligious Dialogue, ed. Harold Kasimow and Byron L. Sherwin (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), 3–22;
J.B. Levinsohn, Éfés Dammim: A Series of Conversations at Jerusalem Between a Patriarch of the Greek Church and a Chief Rabbi of the Jews (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1841). I have analyzed this document in a paper delivered in Thessaloniki at “The Fifth Academic Meeting between Judaism and Orthodox Christianity,” May 27–29, 2003.
Samson Raphael Hirsch, The Pentateuch, trans. Isaac Levy (Gateshead: Judaica Press, 1989), commentary on Numbers 29:13.
Samson Raphael Hirsch, “Talmudic Judaism and Society,” in Principles of Education (New York: Feldheim Publishers, 1991), VII, 226.
Judah Aryeh Leib Alter, Sefer Sefat emet: al ha-Torah (Jerusalem: 1990).
Abraham Isaac Kook, Igrot Harayah (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1985), 112.
Abraham Isaac Kook, Arpelei Tohar (Jerusalem: Mosad Harav Kook, 1993), 33.
Abraham Azulai, Hesed leAvaram (Jerusalem: 1996), 50b.
Adin Steinsaltz, “Peace without Conciliation: The Irrelevance of ‘Toleration’ in Judaism,” Common Knowledge 11, 1 (2005): 41–7.
Joseph Gikitilla, Gates of Light, trans. Avi Weinstein (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994). My presentation follows Weinstein’s translation that considers the divine forces as actually divine and not just as celestial.
Shlomo Alkebetz, Berit Levi (Brooklyn, 2003), 19a.
Yaakov Yosef Polnoye, Toldot Yakov Yosef (Jerusalem, 2001), introduction.
Solomon ben Abraham Aderet, Teshuvot ha-Rashba, ed. Haim Z Dimitrovsky (Jerusalem: Mosad Harav Kook, 1990), 162–4;
on the topic, see Harvey J. Hames, The Art of Conversion: Christianity and Kabbalah in the Thirteenth Century (Leiden: Brill, 2000).
Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, Judaism and Christianity: The Differences (New York: 1943).
John Hood, Aquinas and the Jews (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995).
Isaac Arama, Akadat Yitzhak (Tel Aviv, 1960), gate 70.
Ibid., 60: 36; see also his comments on Deuteronomy 4:35, 26:1, and Exodus 12:1, where it might imply that Israel means any zaddik whether of Jewish or gentile origin. The French report is found in “;Christianity in Jewish Theology,” Revue des Études Juives 160 (2001): 495–7;
Leopold Zunz, Das gedachtniss der Gerechten in gesschichte und Literatur (Berlin, 1919), 371–89, citation from page 384.
Eliyahu Soloweyczyk, Kol kore o’ Hatalmud ve haberit Hahadashah (1867).
Ovadiah ben Jacob Seforno, Commentary on the Bible (Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1980), Exodus 19:5–6; Deuteronomy 33:3.
Jospeh Shapira, Hagut, halakhah ye-Tsiyonut: al olamo ha-ruhani shel ha-Rav Yitshak Yaakov Raines (Tel-Aviv: ha-Kibuts ha-Meuhad, 2002).
Frank Talmage, “Angels, Anthems, and Anathemas” in Barry Walfish, ed., The Frank Talmage Memorial Volume (Haifa: Haifa University Press, 1993), 17–18.
Yehezkel Kaufman, Christianity and Judaism: Two Covenants (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1988), 48.
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© 2010 Alan Brill
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Brill, A. (2010). The Inclusivist Tradition. In: Judaism and Other Religions. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230105683_4
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