Misplaced Pages

#883116

170-405: —  Events  — —  Figures  — —  Events and terms  — —  Events  — Jewish eschatology is the area of Jewish theology concerned with events that will happen in the end of days and related concepts. This includes the ingathering of the exiled diaspora , the coming of the Jewish Messiah , the afterlife , and the resurrection of the dead . In Judaism ,

340-423: A Jiva is either samsari (mundane, caught in cycle of rebirths) or mukta (liberated). According to this belief until the time the soul is liberated from the saṃsāra (cycle of repeated birth and death), it gets attached to one of these bodies based on the karma (actions) of the individual soul. Irrespective of which state the soul is in, it has got the same attributes and qualities. The difference between

510-655: A proselyte , is considered the greatest early Jewish philosopher after Solomon. During his early years in Tulunid Egypt, the Fatimid Caliphate ruled Egypt; the leaders of the Tulunids were Ismaili Imams. Their influence upon the Jewish academies of Egypt resonate in the works of Sa'adya. Sa'adya's Emunoth ve-Deoth ("Beliefs and Opinions") was originally called Kitab al-Amanat wal-l'tikadat ("Book of

680-546: A resurrection . The oldest existing branches of Christianity, the Catholic Church and the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, adhere to this view, as well as many Protestant denominations. Some Protestant Christians understand the soul as life, and believe that the dead have no conscious existence until after the resurrection (this is known as Christian conditionalism ). Some Protestant Christians believe that

850-939: A Jewish mutakallim (rational theologian), our main source of information is the Kitāb al-Tanbīh by the Muslim historian al-Masʿūdī (d. 956). In his brief survey of Arabic translations of the Bible, al-Masʿūdī states that the Israelites rely for exegesis and translation of the Hebrew books—i.e., the Torah, Prophets, and Psalms, twenty-four books in all, he says—on a number of Israelites whom they praise highly, almost all of whom he has met in person. He mentions Abū ʾl-Kathīr as one of them, and also Saadia ("Saʿīd ibn Yaʿqūb al-Fayyūmī"). Regardless of what we do not know, Saadia traveled to Tiberias (home of

1020-418: A body and a soul. Paul said that the "body wars against" the soul, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit" (Heb 4:12 NASB), and that "I buffet my body", to keep it under control. According to Thomas Aquinas , the soul is tota in toto corpore . This means that the soul is entirely contained in every single part of

1190-566: A broader cultivation of the classic languages and the non-Jewish branches of learning. To Anatoli, all men are formed in the image of God, although the Jews stand under a particular obligation to further the true cognition of God simply by reason of their election, "the Greeks had chosen wisdom as their pursuit; the Romans, power; and the Jews, religiousness" Firstly, Hillel ben Samuel 's importance in

1360-403: A center of philosophical learning as is reflected by the explosion of philosophical inquiry among Jews, Muslims and Christians. According to Sa'adya Gaon, the Jewish community of Balkh (Afghanistan) was divided into two groups: "Jews" and "people that are called Jews"; Hiwi al-Balkhi was a member of the latter. Hiwi is generally considered to be the very first "Jewish" philosopher to subject

1530-547: A charismatic human figure or is a symbol of the redemption of mankind from the evils of the world. Through the doctrine of a Messianic figure, Judaism teaches us that every individual human being must live as if he or she, individually, has the responsibility to bring about the messianic age. Beyond that, we echo the words of Maimonides based on the prophet Habakkuk (2:3) that though he may tarry, yet do we wait for him each day... ( Emet ve-Emunah: Statement of Principles of Conservative Judaism ) Reform Judaism generally concurs with

1700-407: A counterpoint to "otherworldly" Christianity. Greenberg sees each of these views as leading to an undesired extreme – overemphasizing the afterlife leads to asceticism, while devaluing the afterlife deprives Jews of the consolation of eternal life and justice – and calls for a synthesis, in which Jews can work to perfect this world, while also recognizing the immortality of

1870-545: A court of Babylonian rabbis, whose decision would be binding on both factions. Hillel was certain the verdict would favor Maimonides. Hillel wrote a commentary on the 25 propositions appearing at the beginning of the second part of the Guide of the Perplexed, and three philosophical treatises, which were appended to Tagmulei ha-Nefesh: the first on knowledge and free will; the second on the question of why mortality resulted from

SECTION 10

#1732766177884

2040-563: A death. Gehinnom is considered a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Gan Eden ("Garden of Eden"). Rabbinic literature includes many legends about the World to Come and the two Gardens of Eden. As compiled by Louis Ginzberg in the book Legends of the Jews , these include the world to come, which is called Paradise and said to have a double gate made of carbuncle guarded by 600,000 shining angels. Seven clouds of glory overshadow Paradise, and under them, in

2210-538: A divine book would be resurrected. Moreover, Daniel's promise of resurrection was intended only for the most righteous and the most sinful because the afterlife was a place for the virtuous individuals to be rewarded and the sinful individuals to receive eternal punishment. Greek and Persian culture influenced Jewish sects to believe in an afterlife between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE as well. The Hebrew Bible , at least as seen through interpretation of Bavli Sanhedrin , contains frequent references to resurrection of

2380-400: A fool who believes in everything, but only in that which can be verified by proof...and not to be of the second unthinking category which disbelieves from the start of its inquiry," since "certain things must be accepted by tradition, because they cannot be proven." Scholars continue to debate whether ibn Kaspi was a heretic or one of Judaisms most illustrious scholars. Rabbi Levi ben Gershon

2550-409: A heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel". Bahá'u'lláh stated that the soul not only continues to live after the physical death of the human body but is in fact immortal. Heaven can be seen partly as the soul's state of nearness to God, and hell as a state of remoteness from God. Each state follows as

2720-516: A life force. The concept of jiva in Jainism is similar to ātman in Hinduism; however, some Hindu traditions differentiate between the two concepts, with jiva considered as individual self, while atman as that which is universal unchanging self that is present in all living beings and everything else as the metaphysical Brahman . The latter is sometimes referred to as jiva-ātman (a soul in

2890-481: A living body). The Quran , the holy book of Islam , uses two words to refer to the soul: rūḥ (translated as spirit, consciousness, pneuma, or soul) and nafs (translated as self, ego, psyche, or soul), cognates of the Hebrew ruach and nefesh . The two terms are frequently used interchangeably, although rūḥ is more often used to denote the divine spirit or "the breath of life", while nafs designates one's disposition or characteristics. In Islamic philosophy,

3060-521: A long discussion of the events leading to the coming of the Messiah. Throughout their history Jews have compared these passages (and others) to contemporary events in search of signs of the Messiah's imminent arrival, continuing into present times. The Talmud tells many stories about the Messiah, some of which represent famous Talmudic rabbis as receiving personal visitations from Elijah the Prophet and

3230-488: A natural consequence of individual efforts, or the lack thereof, to develop spiritually. Bahá'u'lláh taught that individuals have no existence prior to their life here on earth and the soul's evolution is always towards God and away from the material world. The traditional doctrine in Buddhism regarding the soul, self, or ego is that it is non-existent as a separate, permanent entity. The non-existence of self ( anatman ),

3400-535: A number of them. His best-known work is his Shelemut ha-Nefesh ("Treatise on the Perfection of the Soul"). Moses began studying philosophy with his father when he was thirteen, later studying with Moses ben David Caslari and Abraham ben David Caslari - both of whom were students of Kalonymus ben Kalonymus . Moses believed that Judaism was a guide to the highest degree of theoretical and moral truth. He believed that

3570-656: A philosophical figure. His statements include: After the Bar Kokhba revolt , rabbinic scholars gathered in Tiberias and Safed to re-assemble and re-assess Judaism, its laws, theology, liturgy, beliefs and leadership structure. In 219 CE, the Sura Academy (from which Jewish Kalam emerged many centuries later) was founded by Abba Arika . For the next five centuries, Talmudic academies focused upon reconstituting Judaism and little, if any, philosophic investigation

SECTION 20

#1732766177884

3740-428: A role in judgments on the morality of abortion . Some Christians espouse a trichotomic view of humans, which characterizes humans as consisting of a body ( soma ), soul ( psyche ), and spirit ( pneuma ); however, the majority of modern Bible scholars point out how the concepts of "spirit" and of "soul" are used interchangeably in many biblical passages, and so hold to dichotomy: the view that each human comprises

3910-432: A shadow. In some cases, it is connected to shamanistic beliefs among the various Inuit groups . Caribou Inuit groups also believed in several types of souls. Shinto distinguishes between the souls of living persons ( tamashii ) and those of dead persons ( mitama ), each of which may have different aspects or sub-souls. Sikhism considers soul ( atma ) to be part of God ( Waheguru ). Various hymns are cited from

4080-478: A spiritual soul with a corporeal soul. Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means inner self or soul. In Hindu philosophy , especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism , ātman is the first principle , the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. In order to attain liberation ( moksha ) , a human being must acquire self-knowledge ( atma jnana ), which

4250-552: A typical human concept of lifespan and time. According to Louis Ginzberg , the soul of Adam is the image of God . Every soul of human also escapes from the body every night, rises up to heaven, and fetches new life thence for the body of man. In Brahma Kumaris , human souls are believed to be incorporeal and eternal . God is considered to be the Supreme Soul, with maximum degrees of spiritual qualities, such as peace, love and purity. In Helena Blavatsky 's Theosophy ,

4420-493: Is a table of gems and pearls attended to by sixty angels. The light of Paradise is the light of the righteous people therein. Each day in Paradise, one wakes up a child and goes to bed an elder to enjoy the pleasures of childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age. In each corner of Paradise is a forest of 800,000 trees, the least among these greater than the best herbs and spices, attended to by 800,000 sweetly singing angels. Paradise

4590-454: Is an entity or "spiritual spark" or "light" in the human body - because of which the body can sustain life. On the departure of this entity from the body, the body becomes lifeless – no amount of manipulations to the body can make the person make any physical actions. The soul is the "driver" in the body. It is the roohu or spirit or atma , the presence of which makes the physical body alive. Many religious and philosophical traditions support

4760-438: Is called animism . In the ancient Egyptian religion , an individual was believed to be made up of various elements, some physical and some spiritual. Similar ideas are found in ancient Assyrian and Babylonian religion. The Kuttamuwa stele , a funeral stele for an 8th-century BCE royal official from Sam'al , describes Kuttamuwa requesting that his mourners commemorate his life and his afterlife with feasts "for my soul that

4930-432: Is called a tzadik . Therefore, Judaism embraces the commemoration of the day of one's death, nahala / Yahrtzeit , and not the birthday , as a festivity of remembrance, for only toward the end of life's struggles, tests and challenges could human souls be judged and credited for righteousness. Judaism places great importance on the study of the souls. Kabbalah and other mystic traditions go into greater detail into

5100-401: Is called good—happiness, wisdom, love, compassion, harmony, peace, and so on. While the spirit is eternal and incorruptible, the soul is not. The soul acts as a link between the material body and the spiritual self, and therefore shares some characteristics of both. The soul can be attracted either towards the spiritual or towards the material realm, being thus the battlefield of good and evil. It

5270-427: Is cognate with other historical Germanic terms for the same idea, including Old Frisian sēle, sēl (which could also mean "salvation", or "solemn oath"), Gothic saiwala , Old High German sēula, sēla , Old Saxon sēola , and Old Norse sāla . Present-day cognates include Dutch ziel and German Seele . In Judaism and in some Christian denominations, only human beings have immortal souls. Immortality

Jewish eschatology - Misplaced Pages Continue

5440-468: Is created immediately by God." Protestants generally believe in the soul's existence and immortality, but fall into two major camps about what this means in terms of an afterlife . Some, following John Calvin , believe that the soul persists as consciousness after death. Others, following Martin Luther , believe that the soul dies with the body , and is unconscious ("sleeps") until the resurrection of

5610-579: Is derived from Old English sāwol, sāwel . The earliest attestations reported in the Oxford English Dictionary are from the 8th century. In King Alfred 's translation of De Consolatione Philosophiae , it is used to refer to the immaterial, spiritual, or thinking aspect of a person, as contrasted with the person's physical body; in the Vespasian Psalter 77.50, it means "life" or "animate existence". The Old English word

5780-480: Is disputed within Judaism and the concept of immortality was most likely influenced by Plato . For example, Thomas Aquinas , borrowing directly from Aristotle 's On the Soul , attributed "soul" ( anima ) to all organisms but argued that only human souls are immortal. Other religions (most notably Hinduism and Jainism ) believe that all living things from the smallest bacterium to the largest of mammals are

5950-484: Is divided into seven sub-paradises, each one 120,000 miles long and wide. Depending on one's merit, a soul is assigned to one of these sections of Paradise: the first is made of glass and cedar and is for converts to Judaism ; the second is of silver and cedar and is for penitents; the third is of silver, gold, gems and pearls, and is for the Patriarchs , Moses and Aaron , the Israelites that left Egypt and lived in

6120-608: Is fairly well defined in rabbinic literature . It is sometimes translated as "hell", but is more similar to the Nicene Christian view of Purgatory than to its Hell . Rabbinic thought maintains that souls are not tortured in Gehinnom forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be eleven months, with the exception of heretics and extremely sinful Jews. This is why Jews mourning for near relatives will not recite mourner's kaddish for more than eleven months after

6290-431: Is immortal, and eternal, and capable of receiving a fulness of joy. Latter-day Saint cosmology also describes "intelligences" as the essence of consciousness or agency. These are co-eternal with God, and animate the spirits. The union of a newly-created spirit body with an eternally-existing intelligence constitutes a "spirit birth", and justifies God's title "Father of our spirits". Some Confucian traditions contrast

6460-596: Is in this stele". It is one of the earliest references to a soul as a separate entity from the body. The 800-pound (360 kg) basalt stele is 3 ft (0.91 m) tall and 2 ft (0.61 m) wide. It was uncovered in the third season of excavations by the Neubauer Expedition of the Oriental Institute in Chicago, Illinois. The Baháʼí Faith affirms that "the soul is a sign of God,

6630-566: Is known as olam ha-ba ( Hebrew : עולם הבא , lit.   'coming world', 'next world'), and is related to concepts of Gan Eden , the Heavenly " Garden in Eden ", or Paradise , and Gehinnom . The phrase " olam ha-ba " itself does not occur in the Hebrew Bible . The accepted halakha is that it is impossible for living human beings to know what the world to come is like. In

6800-407: Is no beginning or end to the existence of soul. It is eternal in nature and changes its form until it attains liberation. In Jainism, jiva is the immortal essence or soul of a living organism, such as human, animal, fish, or plant, which survives physical death. The concept of Ajiva in Jainism means "not soul", and represents matter (including body), time, space, non-motion and motion. In Jainism,

6970-793: Is none like him in his generation," and he sharply attacked the "monetary demands" of the academies. Samuel ben Ali was an anti-Maimonidean operating in Babylon to undermine the works of Maimonides and those of Maimonides' patrons (the Al-Constantini family from North Africa). To illustrate the reach of the Maimonidean Controversy, Samuel ben Ali, the chief opponent of Maimonides in the East, was excommunicated by Daud Ibn Hodaya al Daudi (Exilarch of Mosul). Maimonides' attacks on Samuel ben Ali may not have been entirely altruistic given

Jewish eschatology - Misplaced Pages Continue

7140-595: Is not a biblical doctrine, the Torah was not divinely revealed, and an Apikoros ('heretic'). In the late Second Temple period , the Pharisees believed in resurrection , while Essenes and Sadducees did not. During the Rabbinic period , beginning in the late first century and carrying on to the present, the works of Daniel were included into the Hebrew Bible, signaling the adoption of Jewish resurrection into

7310-467: Is of greatest value in [them], that by which [they are] most especially in God's image: 'soul' signifies the spiritual principle in [humanity]." All souls living and dead will be judged by Jesus Christ when he comes back to earth . The Catholic Church teaches that the existence of each individual soul is dependent wholly upon God, stating: "The doctrine of the faith affirms that the spiritual and immortal soul

7480-475: Is one of the early Latin translators of "the wise men of the nations" (non-Jewish scholars). Defending Maimonides, Hillel addressed a letter to his friend Maestro Gaio asking him to use his influence with the Jews of Rome against Maimonides' opponents (Solomon Petit). He also advanced the bold idea of gathering together Maimonides' defenders and opponents in Alexandria, in order to bring the controversy before

7650-626: Is only when the soul is attracted towards the spiritual and merges with the Self that it becomes eternal and divine. Rudolf Steiner claimed classical trichotomic stages of soul development, which interpenetrated one another in consciousness: In Surat Shabda Yoga , the soul is considered to be an exact replica and spark of the Divine. The purpose of Surat Shabd Yoga is to realize one's True Self as soul (Self-Realisation), True Essence (Spirit-Realisation) and True Divinity (God-Realisation) while living in

7820-471: Is proffered by Michael the archangel to God on the altar of the Temple in the heavenly Jerusalem. One is transfigured into an angel, with the ugliest person becoming as beautiful and shining as "the grains of a silver pomegranate upon which fall the rays of the sun". The angels that guard Paradise's gate adorn the soul in seven clouds of glory, crown it with gems and pearls and gold, place eight myrtles in

7990-409: Is said to be one whose souls are in harmony with each other, while an evil person is one whose souls are in conflict. The "free soul" is said to leave the body and journey to the spirit world during sleep, trance-like states , delirium , insanity , and death. The duality is also seen in the healing traditions of Austronesian shamans, where illnesses are regarded as a " soul loss " and thus to heal

8160-399: Is said to have mental illness or unconsciousness , while a dead soul may reincarnate to a disability , lower desire realms , or may even be unable to reincarnate. In theological reference to the soul, the terms "life" and "death" are viewed as emphatically more definitive than the common concepts of " biological life " and "biological death". Because the soul is said to be transcendent of

8330-509: Is the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible . The roots of Jewish eschatology are to be found in the pre- exile prophets , including Isaiah and Jeremiah , and the exilic prophets Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah . The main tenets of Jewish eschatology are the following, in no particular order, elaborated in the Book of Isaiah , the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Ezekiel . According to Ezekiel chapter 38,

8500-422: Is the belief that humans have two or more souls, generally termed the "body soul", or "life soul", and the "free soul". The former is linked to bodily functions and awareness when awake, while the latter can freely wander during sleep or trance states. In some cases, there are a plethora of soul types with different functions. Soul dualism and multiple souls are prominent in the traditional animistic beliefs of

8670-411: Is the higher Gan Eden, where God is enthroned and explains the Torah to its inhabitants. The higher Gan Eden contains 310 worlds and is divided into seven compartments. The compartments are not described, though it is implied that each compartment is greater than the previous one and is made open to a soul based on its merit. The first compartment is for Jewish martyrs , the second for those who drowned,

SECTION 50

#1732766177884

8840-438: Is to realize that one's true self ( ātman ) is identical with the transcendent self Brahman according to Advaita Vedanta . The six orthodox schools of Hinduism believe that there is ātman (self, essence) in every being. In Hinduism and Jainism , a jiva ( Sanskrit : जीव , jīva , alternative spelling jiwa ; Hindi : जीव , jīv , alternative spelling jeev ) is a living being, or any entity imbued with

9010-476: Is underscored by the fact that the title of his eighth gate, Muḥasabat al-Nafs ("Self-Examination"), is reminiscent of the Sufi Abu Abd Allah Ḥarith Ibn-Asad , who has been surnamed El Muḥasib ("the self-examiner"), because—say his biographers—"he was always immersed in introspection" Judah Halevi of Toledo, Spain defended Rabbinic Judaism against Islam, Christianity and Karaite Judaism. He

9180-443: The material existence, and is said to have (potentially) eternal life , the death of the soul is likewise said to be an eternal death . Thus, in the concept of divine judgment , God is commonly said to have options with regard to the dispensation of souls, ranging from Heaven (i.e., angels ) to hell (i.e., demons ), with various concepts in between. Typically both Heaven and hell are said to be eternal, or at least far beyond

9350-472: The "Guide for the Perplexed" against attacks of anti-Maimonideans. He knew the works of the Islamic philosophers better than any Jewish scholar of his time, and made many of them available to other Jewish scholars – often without attribution ( Reshit Hokhmah ). Ibn Falaquera did not hesitate to modify Islamic philosophic texts when it suited his purposes. For example, Ibn Falaquera turned Alfarabi's account of

9520-682: The Ash'ari when contemplating the sciences. The spread of Islam throughout the Middle East and North Africa rendered Muslim all that was once Jewish. Greek philosophy, science, medicine and mathematics was absorbed by Jewish scholars living in the Arab world due to Arabic translations of those texts; remnants of the Library of Alexandria . Early Jewish converts to Islam brought with them stories from their heritage, known as Isra'iliyyat , which told of

9690-644: The Austronesian peoples , the Chinese people ( hún and pò ), the Tibetan people , most African peoples, most Native North Americans , ancient South Asian peoples, Northern Eurasian peoples, and in Ancient Egyptians (the ka and ba ). The belief in soul dualism is found throughout most Austronesian shamanistic traditions. The reconstructed Proto-Austronesian word for

9860-520: The Banu Isra'il , the pious men of ancient Israel. One of the most famous early mystics of Sufism , Hasan of Basra , introduced numerous Isra'iliyyat legends into Islamic scholarship, stories that went on to become representative of Islamic mystical ideas of piety of Sufism. Hai Gaon of Pumbedita Academy begins a new phase in Jewish scholarship and investigation ( hakirah ); Hai Gaon augments Talmudic scholarship with non-Jewish studies. Hai Gaon

10030-672: The Brethren of Purity were carried to the West by the Cordovan hadith scholar and alchemist Maslama al-Qurṭubī (died 964), where they would be of central importance to the Jewish philosophers of Islamic Spain . One of the themes emphasized by the Brethren of Purity and adopted by most Spanish Jewish philosophers is the microcosm-macrocosm analogy . From the 10th century on, Spain became

10200-575: The Cairo Geniza , have been published (Davidson, 1915; Schirmann, 1965). Ḥīwī's criticisms are also noted in Abraham ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch. Sa'adya Gaon denounced Hiwi as an extreme rationalist, a "Mulhidun", or atheist/deviator. Abraham Ibn Daud described HIwi as a sectarian who "denied the Torah, yet used it to formulate a new Torah of his liking". " Saadia Gaon , son of

10370-569: The Divine Presence . This view is shared by all classical rabbinic scholars. According to Maimonides, any non-Jew who lives according to the Seven Laws of Noah is regarded as a righteous gentile , and is assured of a place in the world to come, the final reward of the righteous. There is a great deal of surviving rabbinic material concerning the fate of the soul after death, its experiences, and where it goes. At various points in

SECTION 60

#1732766177884

10540-571: The Second Temple in 70 CE, Second Temple Judaism was in disarray, but Jewish traditions were preserved especially thanks to the shrewd maneuvers of Johanan ben Zakai , who saved the Sanhedrin and moved it to Yavne . Philosophical speculation was not a central part of Rabbinic Judaism , although some have seen the Mishnah as a philosophical work. Rabbi Akiva has also been viewed as

10710-746: The Talmud Bavli for the Academy at Kairouan from memory—later taking a copy with him to Spain. Borrowing from the Mutakallamin of Basra , the Karaites were the first Jewish group to subject Judaism to Muʿtazila . Rejecting the Talmud and rabbinical tradition, Karaites took liberty to reinterpret the Tanakh . This meant abandoning foundational Jewish belief structures. Some scholars suggest that

10880-412: The soul is the non-material essence of a person, which includes one's identity , personality , and memories , an immaterial aspect or essence of a living being that is believed to be able to survive physical death . The concept of the soul is generally applied to humans, although it can also be applied to other living or even non-living entities, as in animism . The Modern English noun soul

11050-522: The "body soul" is *nawa ("breath", "life", or "vital spirit"). It is located somewhere in the abdominal cavity , often in the liver or the heart (Proto-Austronesian *qaCay ). The "free soul" is located in the head. Its names are usually derived from Proto-Austronesian *qaNiCu ("ghost", "spirit [of the dead]"), which also apply to other non-human nature spirits. The "free soul" is also referred to in names that literally mean "twin" or "double", from Proto-Austronesian *duSa ("two"). A virtuous person

11220-530: The "war of Gog and Magog" is a climactic war that will happen at the end of the Jewish exile. According to biblical commentator and rabbi David Kimhi , this war will take place in Jerusalem . The Hebrew Bible reflects the belief of the Israelites in an arguably Hades -like afterworld, where both the righteous (see Samuel ) and the sinners continue their existence in a miserable manner. The afterlife

11390-475: The Academy of Fez and studied under Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Kohen Ibn Soussan — a student of Isaac Alfasi . Maimonides strove to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and science with the teachings of Torah. In some ways his position was parallel to that of Averroes ; in reaction to the attacks on Avicennian Aristotelism, Maimonides embraced and defended a stricter Aristotelism without Neoplatonic additions. The principles which inspired all of Maimonides' philosophical activity

11560-583: The Articles of Faith and Doctrines of Dogma"); it was the first systematic presentation and philosophic foundation of the dogmas of Judaism, completed at Sura Academy in 933 CE." Little known is that Saadia traveled to Tiberias in 915CE to study with Abū 'l-Kathīr Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyāʾ, "a Jewish theologian and Bible translator. He is not mentioned in any Jewish source, and apart from the Andalusian heresiographer and polemicist Ibn Hazm , who mentions him as

11730-482: The Baghdad Yeshiva and considered the leading philosopher of Iraq. Historians differ over the motive for his conversion to Islam. Some suggest it was a reaction to a social slight inflicted upon him because he was a Jew, while others suggest he was forcibly converted at the edge of a sword (which prompted Maimonides to comment upon Anusim ). Despite his conversion to Islam, his works continued to be studied at

11900-695: The Duties of the Heart"). Bahya often followed the method of the Arabian encyclopedists known as "the Brethren of Purity " but adopts some of Sufi tenets rather than Ismaili. According to Bahya, the Torah appeals to reason and knowledge as proofs of God's existence. It is therefore a duty incumbent upon every one to make God an object of speculative reason and knowledge, in order to arrive at true faith. Baḥya borrows from Sufism and Jewish Kalam integrating them into Neoplatonism. Proof that Bahya borrowed from Sufism

12070-452: The Guide of the Perplexed was being studied in the Muslim philosophical schools of Fez, he left for that town (in 1332) in order to observe their method of study. Ibn Kaspi began writing when he was 17 years old on topics which included logic, linguistics, ethics, theology, biblical exegesis, and super-commentaries to Abraham Ibn Ezra and Maimonides. Philosophic systems he followed were Aristotle's and Averroes'. He defines his aim as "not to be

12240-480: The Hebrew grammarian Abū ʿAlī Judah ben ʿAllān, likewise of Tiberias, who seems to have been a Karaite Jew. However, al-Masūdī unequivocally describes Abu ʾl-Kathīr (as well as his student Saadia) as an ashmaʿthī (Rabbanite). In "Book of the Articles of Faith and Doctrines of Dogma" Saadia declares the rationality of the Jewish religion with the caveat that reason must capitulate wherever it contradicts tradition. Dogma takes precedence over reason. Saadia closely followed

12410-494: The Jewish Baghdad Academy, a well-known academy, into the thirteenth century. He was a follower of Avicenna's teaching, who proposed an explanation of the acceleration of falling bodies by the accumulation of successive increments of power with successive increments of velocity. His writings include Kitāb al-Muʿtabar ("The Book of What Has Been Established by Personal Reflection"); a philosophical commentary on

12580-703: The Jewish notions of nephesh (נפש) and ruah (רוח), meaning spirit, (also in the Septuagint, e.g. Genesis 1:2 רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים = πνεῦμα θεοῦ = spiritus Dei = "the Spirit of God"). Christians generally believe in the existence and eternal, infinite nature of the soul. The "origin of the soul" has provided a vexing question in Christianity. The major theories put forward include soul creationism , traducianism , and pre-existence . According to soul creationism, God creates each individual soul directly, either at

12750-710: The Kohelet, written in Arabic using Hebrew aleph bet; and the treatise "On the Reason Why the Stars Are Visible at Night and Hidden in Daytime." According to Hibat Allah, Kitāb al-Muʿtabar consists in the main of critical remarks jotted down by him over the years while reading philosophical text, and published at the insistence of his friends, in the form of a philosophical work. Natan'el al-Fayyumi of Yemen,

12920-417: The Messiah. In rabbinic literature , the rabbis elaborated and explained the prophecies that were found in the Hebrew Bible along with the oral law and rabbinic traditions about its meaning. Maimonides ' commentary to tractate Sanhedrin stresses a relatively naturalistic interpretation of the Messiah, de-emphasizing miraculous elements. His commentary became widely (although not universally) accepted in

13090-589: The Necessary Existence and (3) The Creation of the World"). Jacob Anatoli is generally regarded as a pioneer in the application of the Maimonidean Rationalism to the study of Jewish texts. He was the son-in-law of Samuel ibn Tibbon , translator of Maimonides. Due to these family ties Anatoli was introduced to the philosophy of Maimonides, the study of which was such a great revelation to him that he, in later days, referred to it as

13260-433: The Pentateuch to critical analysis. Hiwi is viewed by some scholars as an intellectually conflicted man torn between Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Gnostic Christianity, and Manichaean thought. Hiwi espoused the belief that miraculous acts, described in the Pentateuch, are simply examples of people using their skills of reasoning to undertake, and perform, seemingly miraculous acts. As examples of this position, he argued that

13430-424: The Torah had both a simple, direct meaning accessible to the average reader as well as a deeper, metaphysical meaning accessible to thinkers. Moses rejected the belief in miracles, instead believing they could be explained, and defended man's free will by philosophical arguments. Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, of Barcelona, studied under Hasdai Crescas and Rabbi Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi. Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi

13600-462: The afterlife journey, the soul may encounter: Hibbut ha-kever , the pains and experiences of the physico-spiritual dissolution or reconfiguration within the grave; Dumah , the angel in charge of funerary matters; Satan as the angel of death or other equally grim figure; the Kaf ha-Kela , the ensnarement or confinement of the stripped-down soul within various ghostly material reallocations (devised for

13770-589: The areas of jurisprudence, mathematics, astronomy, logic and philosophy. Jewish scholars influenced Islamic scholars and Islamic scholars influenced Jewish scholars. Contemporary scholars continue to debate who was Muslim and who was Jew—some "Islamic scholars" were "Jewish scholars" prior to forced conversion to Islam, some Jewish scholars willingly converted to Islam, such as Abdullah ibn Salam , while others later reverted to Judaism, and still others, born and raised as Jews, were ambiguous in their religious beliefs such as ibn al-Rawandi , although they lived according to

13940-701: The beginning of his intelligent and true comprehension of the Scriptures, while he frequently alluded to Ibn Tibbon as one of the two masters who had instructed and inspired him. Anatoli wrote the Malmad exhibiting his broad knowledge of classic Jewish exegetes, as well as Plato, Aristotle, Averroes, and the Vulgate, as well as with a large number of Christian institutions, some of which he ventures to criticize, such as celibacy and monastic castigation, as well as certain heretics and he repeatedly appeals to his readers for

14110-416: The body are the soul of man." Latter-day Saints believe that the soul is the union of a pre-existing, God-made spirit, and a temporal body, which is formed by physical conception on earth. After death, the spirit continues to live and progress in the spirit world until the resurrection , when it is reunited with the body that once housed it. This reuniting of body and spirit results in a perfect soul that

14280-445: The body is a collection of elements and the soul is the essence. Soul or psyche ( Ancient Greek : ψυχή psykhḗ , of ψύχειν psýkhein , "to breathe", cf. Latin anima ) comprises the mental abilities of a living being: reason, character, free will , feeling, consciousness , qualia , memory, perception, thinking, and so on. Depending on the philosophical system, a soul can either be mortal or immortal . The ancient Greeks used

14450-433: The center of Paradise, stands the tree of life . The tree of life overshadows Paradise too, and it has fifteen thousand different tastes and aromas that winds blow all across Paradise. Under the tree of life are many pairs of canopies, one of stars and the other of sun and moon, while a cloud of glory separates the two. In each pair of canopies sits a rabbinic scholar who explains the Torah to one. When one enters Paradise, one

14620-404: The coming of the new age, but he was somehow supposed to bring it about. The "Lord's anointed" thus became the "savior and redeemer" and the focus of more intense expectations and doctrines." Messianic ideas developed both by new interpretations ( pesher , midrash ) of the Jewish scriptures, but also by visionary revelations. The Babylonian Talmud (200–500 CE), tractate Sanhedrin , contains

14790-471: The community who, being under twenty-five years, shall study the works of the Greeks on natural science and metaphysics." Contemporary Kabbalists, Tosafists and Rationalists continue to engage in lively, sometimes caustic, debate in support of their positions and influence in the Jewish world. At the center of many of these debates are "Guide for the Perplexed", "13 Principles of Faith", "Mishnah Torah", and his commentary on Anusim . Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta

14960-524: The context of interaction and intellectual investigation of Jewish, Christian and Muslim texts. Maimonides writings almost immediately came under attack from Karaites, Dominican Christians, Tosafists of Provence, Ashkenaz and Al Andalus . Scholars suggest that Maimonides instigated the Maimonidean Controversy when he verbally attacked Samuel ben Ali ("Gaon of Baghdad") as "one whom people accustom from his youth to believe that there

15130-552: The customs of their neighbors. Around 700 CE, ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd Abu ʿUthman al-Basri introduces two streams of thought that influence Jewish, Islamic and Christian scholars: The story of the Bahshamiyya Muʿtazila and Qadariyah is as important, if not more so, as the intellectual symbiosis of Judaism and Islam in Islamic Spain. Around 733 CE, Mar Natronai ben Habibai moves to Kairouan , then to Spain, transcribing

15300-440: The dead . Various new religious movements deriving from Adventism including Christadelphians , Seventh-day Adventists , and Jehovah's Witnesses , similarly believe that the dead do not possess a soul separate from the body and are unconscious until the resurrection. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that the spirit and body together constitute the Soul of Man (Mankind), stating: "The spirit and

15470-447: The dead . The Mishnah (c. 200) lists belief in the resurrection of the dead as one of three essential beliefs necessary for a Jew to participate in it: All Israel have a portion in the world to come, for it is written: 'Thy people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.' But the following have no portion therein: one who maintains that resurrection

15640-498: The dead would be resurrected and the Kingdom of Heaven would be established on earth. The Messiah might be a kingly " son of David " or a more heavenly " son of man ", but "Messianism became increasingly eschatological, and eschatology was decisively influenced by apocalypticism," while messianic expectations became increasingly focused on the figure of an individual savior. According to Zwi Werblowsky , "the Messiah no longer symbolized

15810-585: The decline of scholastic rationalism coincided with historical events which drew Jews to the Kabbalistic approach. For Ashkenazi Jews , emancipation and encounter with secular thought from the 18th century onwards altered how philosophy was viewed. Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities had later more ambivalent interaction with secular culture than in Western Europe. In the varied responses to modernity, Jewish philosophical ideas were developed across

15980-494: The different religions. Some Jews accepted this model of religious pluralism, leading them to view Muhammad as a legitimate prophet, though not Jewish, sent to preach to the Arabs , just as the Hebrew prophets had been sent to deliver their messages to Israel; others refused this notion in entirety. Bahye ben Yosef Ibn Paquda , of Zaragoza, was author of the first Jewish system of ethics Al Hidayah ila Faraid al-hulub , ("Guide to

16150-468: The end times are usually called the "end of days" ( aḥarit ha-yamim , אחרית הימים), a phrase that appears several times in the Tanakh . These beliefs have evolved over time, and according to some authors there is evidence of Jewish belief in a personal afterlife with reward or punishment referenced in the Torah . In Judaism , the main textual source for the belief in the end of days and accompanying events

16320-528: The events of the Messianic Era are not specifically connected with the resurrection. Conservative Judaism varies in its teachings. While it retains traditional references to a personal redeemer and prayers for the restoration of the Davidic line in the liturgy, Conservative Jews are more inclined to accept the idea of a Messianic Era: We do not know when the Messiah will come, nor whether he will be

16490-489: The father of Maimonides . Ibn Naghrillah's son, Yosef, provided refuge for two sons of Hezekiah Gaon ; Daud Ibn Chizkiya Gaon Ha-Nasi and Yitzhak Ibn Chizkiya Gaon Ha-Nasi. Though not a philosopher, he did build the infrastructure to allow philosophers to thrive. In 1070 the gaon Isaac ben Moses ibn Sakri of Denia, Spain traveled to the East and acted as rosh yeshivah of the Baghdad Academy. Solomon ibn Gabirol

16660-416: The feet of Abū 'l-Kathīr Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Katib al-Tabari (d. 320/932). The latter is also mentioned by Ibn Ḥazm in his K. al-Fiṣlal wa 'l-niḥal, iii, 171, as being, together with Dāwūd ibn Marwān al-Muqammiṣ and Sa'adya himself, one of the mutakallimūn of the Jews. Since al-Muqammiṣ made few references to specifically Jewish issues and very little of his work was translated from Arabic into Hebrew, he

16830-401: The hand, and praise it for being righteous while leading it to a garden of eight hundred roses and myrtles watered by many rivers. In the garden is one's canopy, its beauty according to one's merit, but each canopy has four rivers – milk, honey, wine, and balsam  – flowing out from it, and has a golden vine and thirty shining pearls hanging from it. Under each canopy

17000-499: The harmony existing between the fundamental doctrines of Judaism and those of philosophy, and, wherever they seem to contradict one another, to seek a mode of reconciling them". Maimonides wrote The Guide for the Perplexed — his most influential philosophic work. He was a student of his father, Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef (a student of Joseph ibn Migash ) in Cordoba, Spain. When his family fled Spain, for Fez, Maimonides enrolled in

17170-542: The history of medieval Jewish philosophy lies in his attempt to deal, systematically, with the question of the immortality of the soul. Secondly, Hillel played a major role in the controversies of 1289–90 concerning the philosophical works of Maimonides. Thirdly, Hillel was the first devotee of Jewish learning and Philosophy in Italy, bringing a close to a period of relative ignorance of Hakira in Verona (Italy). And finally, Hillel

17340-560: The holy book Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) that suggests this belief. "God is in the Soul and the Soul is in the God." The same concept is repeated at various pages of the SGGS. Example include that "The soul is divine; divine is the soul. Worship Him with love", and "The soul is the Lord, and the Lord is the soul; contemplating the Shabad, the Lord is found." The atma or soul according to Sikhism

17510-508: The human body, and therefore ubiquitous and cannot be placed in a single organ, such as heart or brain, nor it is separable from the body (except after the body's death). In the fourth book of De Trinitate , Augustine of Hippo states that the soul is all in the whole body and all in any part of it. The present Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "[The term 'soul'] refers to the innermost aspect of [persons], that which

17680-540: The immortal rūḥ "drives" the mortal nafs, which comprises temporal desires and perceptions necessary for living. Several verses of the Quran that mention the rûh occur in chapters 17 ("The Night Journey") and 39 ("The Troops"). And they ask you, [O Muhammad], about the Rûh. Say, "The Rûh is of the affair of my Lord. And mankind has not been given of knowledge except a little. And remember your Rabb inside your-self Allah takes

17850-566: The impermanence of all things ( anitya ), and the suffering ( dukkha ) experienced by living beings due to attachment to ideas of self and permanence are central concepts in almost all Buddhist schools . The doctrine of Buddha-nature , while sometimes misinterpreted as referring to a "true self" or "soul" of some kind, actually depends upon acceptance of the concept of anatman to be properly understood. According to some Christian eschatology , when people die, their souls will be judged by God and determined to go to Heaven or to Hades awaiting

18020-460: The importance of the "here and now", as opposed to reward and punishment. The Union for Reform Judaism believes the righteous of any faith have a place in heaven but does not believe in a concept of hell. The Hebrew word mashiach (or moshiach ) refers to the Jewish idea of the messiah. In biblical times the title mashiach was awarded to someone in a high position of nobility and greatness. For example, Cohen ha-Mašíaḥ means High Priest . While

18190-468: The last judgment only applies to the gentile nations and not the Jewish people. Irving Greenberg , representing an Open Orthodox viewpoint, describes the afterlife as a central Jewish teaching, deriving from the belief in reward and punishment. According to Greenberg, suffering Medieval Jews emphasized the World to Come as a counterpoint to the difficulties of this life, while early Jewish modernizers portrayed Judaism as interested only in this world as

18360-457: The late Second Temple period , beliefs about the ultimate fate of an individual were diverse. The Pharisees and Essenes believed in the immortality of the soul , but the Sadducees did not. The Dead Sea Scrolls , Jewish pseudepigrapha and Jewish magical papyri all reflect this variety of opinions. While all classical rabbinic sources discuss the afterlife, Medieval scholars dispute

18530-492: The learned scribes and exegetes) to learn and he chose Abū 'l-Kathīr Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Katib al-Tabariya. The extent of Abū ʾl-Kathīr's influence on Saadia's thought cannot be established, however." Abū ʾl-Kathīr's profession is also unclear. al-Masʿūdī calls him a kātib , which has been variously interpreted as secretary, government official, (biblical) scribe, Masorete, and book copyist. For lack of further information, some scholars have tried to identify Abū ʾl-Kathīr with

18700-459: The liberated and non-liberated souls is that the qualities and attributes are manifested completely in case of siddha (liberated soul) as they have overcome all the karmic bondages whereas in case of non-liberated souls they are partially exhibited. Souls who rise victorious over wicked emotions while still remaining within physical bodies are referred to as arihants . Concerning the Jain view of

18870-488: The limbs are active, but when one is sleeping, the soul is active and reveals "an award of joy or sorrow drawing near" in dreams. Erwin Rohde writes that an early pre- Pythagorean belief presented the soul as lifeless when it departed the body, and that it retired into Hades with no hope of returning to a body. Plato was the first thinker in antiquity to combine the various functions of the soul into one coherent conception:

19040-436: The major impetus for the formation of Karaism was a reaction to the rapid rise of Shi'i Islam, which recognized Judaism as a fellow monotheistic faith but claimed that it detracted from monotheism by deferring to rabbinic authority. Karaites absorbed certain aspects of Jewish sects such as the followers of Abu Isa (Shi'ism), Maliki (Sunnis) and Yudghanites (Sufis), who were influenced by East-Islamic scholarship yet deferred to

19210-473: The means of defending and justifying Jewish religious truths . These truths he regarded as fixed and determinate, and philosophy was used as an aid to truth , and a means of arriving at it. To this end Philo chose from philosophical tenets of Greeks, refusing those that did not harmonize with Judaism such as Aristotle's doctrine of the eternity and indestructibility of the world . With the Roman destruction of

19380-477: The moment of conception or at some later time. According to traducianism, the soul comes from the parents by natural generation. According to the preexistence theory, the soul exists before the moment of conception. There have been differing thoughts regarding whether human embryos have souls from conception, or whether there is a point between conception and birth where the fetus acquires a soul , consciousness , and / or personhood . Stances in this question play

19550-486: The more liberal Conservative perspective of a future Messianic Era rather than a human Messiah. Jewish philosophy Medieval re-discovery of ancient Greek philosophy among the Geonim of 10th century Babylonian academies brought rationalist philosophy into Biblical - Talmudic Judaism. The philosophy was generally in competition with Kabbalah . Both schools would become part of classic rabbinic literature , though

19720-533: The name of the Jewish Messiah is considered to be one of the things that precede creation, he is not considered divine, in contrast to Christianity where Jesus is both divine and the Messiah. In the Talmudic era the title Mashiach or מלך המשיח, Méleḵ ha-Mašíaḥ literally means "the anointed King". The Messiah is to be a human leader, physically descended from the Davidic line , who will rule and unite

19890-520: The nature of existence in the "End of Days" after the Messianic Age. While Maimonides describes an entirely spiritual existence for souls, which he calls "disembodied intellects", Nachmanides discusses an intensely spiritual existence on Earth, where spirituality and physicality are merged. Both agree that life after death is as Maimonides describes the "End of Days". This existence entails an extremely heightened understanding of and connection to

20060-405: The nature of the soul. Kabbalah separates the soul into five elements, corresponding to the five worlds : Kabbalah proposed a concept of reincarnation, the gilgul ( nefesh habehamit – the "animal soul"). Some Jewish traditions assert that the soul is housed in the luz bone, though traditions disagree as to whether it is the atlas at the top of the spine, or the sacrum at bottom of

20230-471: The non- or less-mystical branches of Orthodox Judaism . The belief in a human Messiah of the Davidic line is a universal tenet of faith among Orthodox Jews and one of Maimonides ' thirteen principles of faith . Some authorities in Orthodox Judaism believe that this era will lead to supernatural events culminating in a bodily resurrection of the dead. Maimonides, on the other hand, holds that

20400-501: The officially sacred texts. Jewish liturgy , most notably the Amidah , contains references to the tenet of the bodily resurrection of the dead. In contemporary Judaism, both Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism maintain the traditional references to it in their liturgy. However, many Conservative Jews interpret the tenet metaphorically rather than literally. Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism have altered traditional references to

20570-423: The old question of how God's foreknowledge is compatible with human freedom , suggests that what God knows beforehand is all the choices open to each individual. God does not know, however, which choice the individual, in his freedom, will make." Moses ben Joshua composed commentaries on Islamic philosophical works. As an admirer of Averroes, he devoted a great deal of study to his works and wrote commentaries on

20740-533: The oldest surviving witnesses to early Kalām, it begins with epistemological investigations, turns to proofs of the creation of the world and the subsequent existence of a Creator, discusses the unity of the Creator (including the divine attributes), and concludes with theodicy (humanity and revelation) and a refutation of other religions (mostly lost). In 915 CE, Sa'adya Gaon left for Palestine, where, according to al-Masʿūdī (Tanbīh, 113), he perfected his education at

20910-409: The only Jewish philosopher among the predecessors of Maimonides. Overshadowed by Maimonides, ibn Daud's Emunah Ramah , a work to which Maimonides was indebted, received little notice from later philosophers. "True philosophy", according to Ibn Daud, "does not entice us from religion; it tends rather to strengthen and solidify it. Moreover, it is the duty of every thinking Jew to become acquainted with

21080-583: The opinion of Gersonides and that of Abraham ben David of Posquières on free will, and gives his own views on the subject. He was an adversary of Kabbalah who never spoke of the Sefirot; he quotes another philosopher when reproaching kabbalists with " believing in the "Ten" (Sefirot) as the Christians believe in the Trinity ". Soul (spirit) In many religious and philosophical traditions,

21250-459: The origin of philosophic religion into a discussion of the origin of the "virtuous city". Ibn Falaquera's other works include, but are not limited to Iggeret Hanhagat ha-Guf we ha-Nefesh, a treatise in verse on the control of the body and the soul. Ibn Kaspi was a fierce advocate of Maimonides to such an extent that he left for Egypt in 1314 in order to hear explanations on the Guide of the Perplexed from Maimonides' grandchildren. When he heard that

21420-641: The parting of the Red Sea was a natural phenomenon, and that Moses' claim to greatness lay merely in his ability to calculate the right moment for the crossing. He also emphasized that the Egyptian magicians were able to reproduce several of Moses' "miracles," proving that they could not have been so unique. According to scholars, Hiwi's gravest mistake was having the Pentateuch redacted to reflect his own views - then had those redacted texts, which became popular, distributed to children. Since his views contradicted

21590-810: The people of Israel and will usher in the Messianic Age of global and universal peace. Early in the Second Temple period hopes for a better future are described in the Jewish scriptures. After the return from the Babylonian exile, Cyrus the Great was called " messiah " in Isaiah, due to his role in the return of the Jews exiles. A number of messianic ideas developed during the later Second Temple Period, ranging from this-worldy, political expectations, to apocalyptic expectations of an endtime in which

21760-686: The physical body. Similarly, the spiritual teacher Meher Baba held that "Atman, or the soul, is in reality identical with Paramatma the Oversoul – which is one, infinite, and eternal ... [and] [t]he sole purpose of creation is for the soul to enjoy the infinite state of the Oversoul consciously." Eckankar , founded by Paul Twitchell in 1965, defines Soul as the true self; the inner, most sacred part of each person. George Gurdjieff taught that humans are not born with immortal souls but could develop them through certain efforts. Greek philosophers, such as Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle , understood that

21930-468: The position of Maimonides' in-laws in competing Yeshivas. In Western Europe, the controversy was halted by the burning of Maimonides' works by Christian Dominicans in 1232. Avraham son of Rambam , continued fighting for his father's beliefs in the East; desecration of Maimonides' tomb, at Tiberias by Jews, was a profound shock to Jews throughout the Diaspora and caused all to pause and reflect upon what

22100-415: The purpose of cleansing a soul of contamination but not severe enough to warrant Gehinnom, see Tanya Chapter 8)); Gehinnom (pure purgatory ); and Gan Eden ( heavenly respite or paradise , a purified state). All classical rabbinic scholars agree that these concepts are beyond typical human understanding, so these ideas are expressed throughout rabbinic literature via parables and analogies. Gehinnom

22270-567: The range of emerging religious movements . These developments could be seen as either continuations of or breaks from the canon of rabbinic philosophy of the Middle Ages, as well as the other historical dialectic aspects of Jewish thought, and resulted in diverse contemporary Jewish attitudes to philosophical methods. Philo attempted to fuse and harmonize Greek and Jewish philosophy through allegory, which he learned from Jewish exegesis and Stoicism . Philo attempted to make his philosophy

22440-513: The resurrection of the dead in the liturgy ("who gives life to the dead") to refer to "who gives life to all". In Judaism, the day of judgment happens every year on Rosh Hashanah ; therefore, the belief in a last day of judgment for all mankind is disputed. Some rabbis hold that there will be such a day following the resurrection of the dead. Others hold that there is no need for that because of Rosh Hashanah. Yet others hold that this accounting and judgment happens when one dies. Other rabbis hold that

22610-515: The rules of the Muʿtazila school of Abu Ali al-Jubba'i in composing his works. It was Saadia who laid foundations for Jewish rationalist theology which built upon the work of the Muʿtazila, thereby shifting Rabbinic Judaism from mythical explanations of the rabbis to reasoned explanations of the intellect. Saadia advanced the criticisms of Muʿtazila by Ibn al-Rawandi . David ibn Merwan al-Mukkamas

22780-587: The scholars of medieval Christianity. Christian scholars, including Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas , defer to him frequently. Abraham bar Hiyya , of Barcelona and later Arles - Provence , was a student of his father Hiyya al-Daudi and one of the most important figures in the scientific movement which made the Jews of Provence, Spain and Italy the intermediaries between Averroism , Muʿtazila and Christian Europe. He aided this scientific movement by original works, translations and as interpreter for another translator, Plato Tiburtinus . Bar-Hiyya's best student

22950-434: The sick, one must "return" the "free soul" (which may have been stolen by an evil spirit or got lost in the spirit world) into the body. If the "free soul" can not be returned, the afflicted person dies or goes permanently insane. The shaman heals within the spiritual dimension by returning 'lost' parts of the human soul from wherever they have gone. The shaman also cleanses excess negative energies, which confuse or pollute

23120-469: The sin of Adam; the third on whether or not the belief in the fallen angels is a true belief. Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera was a Spanish-born philosopher who pursued reconciliation between Jewish dogma and philosophy. Scholars speculate he was a student of Rabbi David Kimhi whose family fled Spain to Narbonne. Ibn Falaquera lived an ascetic live of solitude. Ibn Falaquera's two leading philosophic authorities were Averroes and Maimonides. Ibn Falaquera defended

23290-436: The soul (ψυχή, psykhḗ ) must have a logical faculty, the exercise of which was the most divine of human actions. At his defense trial, Socrates even summarized his teachings as nothing other than an exhortation for his fellow Athenians to excel in matters of the psyche since all bodily goods are dependent on such excellence ( Apology 30a–b). Aristotle reasoned that a man's body and soul were his matter and form respectively:

23460-553: The soul after death. Many within these religions and philosophies see the soul as immaterial, while others consider it possibly material. According to Chinese traditions, every person has two types of soul called hun and po ( Chinese : 魂and 魄 ; pinyin : Hún and Pò ), which are respectively yang and yin . Taoism believes in Ten souls, Sanhunqipo ( Chinese : 三魂七魄 ; pinyin : Sān hún qī pò ) ( 三魂七魄 ) "three hun and seven po ". A living being that loses any of them

23630-619: The soul is "thetan", derived from the Greek word theta , symbolizing thought. Scientologists practice a form of counselling (called auditing ) which aims to address the soul to improve abilities, both worldly and spiritual. Soul dualism, also called "multiple souls" or "dualistic pluralism", is a common belief in Shamanism , and is essential in the universal and central concept of "soul flight" (also called "soul journey", " out-of-body experience ", " ecstasy ", or " astral projection "). It

23800-446: The soul is that which moves things (i.e., that which gives life, on the view that life is self-motion) by means of its thoughts, requiring that it be both a mover and a thinker. Drawing on the words of his teacher Socrates, Plato considered the psyche to be the essence of a person, being that which decides how humans behave. He considered this essence to be an incorporeal, eternal occupant of our being. Plato said that even after death,

23970-399: The soul is the field of our psychological activity (thinking, emotions, memory, desires, will, and so on) as well as of the paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as extrasensory perception or out-of-body experiences; however, the soul is not the highest, but a middle dimension of human beings. Higher than the soul is the spirit, which is considered to be the real self; the source of everything

24140-555: The soul or spirit. In Judaism , there was originally little to no concept of a soul. As seen in the Genesis , the divine breath simply animated bodies. Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being. Judaism relates the quality of one's soul to one's performance of the commandments ( mitzvot ) and reaching higher levels of understanding, and thus closeness to God. A person with such closeness

24310-529: The soul, Virchand Gandhi said that "the soul lives its own life, not for the purpose of the body, but the body lives for the purpose of the soul. If we believe that the soul is to be controlled by the body then soul misses its power." The Hebrew terms נפש ‎ nefesh (literally "living being"), רוח ‎ ruach (literally "wind"), נשמה ‎ neshamah (literally "breath"), חיה ‎ chayah (literally "life") and יחידה ‎ yechidah (literally "singularity") are used to describe

24480-412: The soul. Conservative Judaism both affirms belief in the world beyond (as referenced in the Amidah and Maimonides' thirteen principles of faith ) while recognizing that human understanding is limited and we cannot know exactly what the world beyond consists of. Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism affirm belief in the afterlife, though they downplay the theological implications in favor of emphasizing

24650-457: The soul. In some ethnic groups, there can also be more than two souls. Like among the Tagbanwa people , where a person is said to have six souls – the "free soul" (which is regarded as the "true" soul) and five secondary souls with various functions. Several Inuit groups believe that a person has more than one type of soul. One is associated with respiration, the other can accompany the body as

24820-565: The souls and bodies of the unrighteous will be destroyed in Hell rather than suffering eternally ( annihilationism ). Believers will inherit eternal life either in Heaven, or in a Kingdom of God on earth, and enjoy eternal fellowship with God. Other Christians reject the punishment of the soul. Paul the Apostle used psychē ( ψυχή ) and pneuma ( πνεῦμα ) specifically to distinguish between

24990-403: The souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.. In Jainism, every living being, from plant or bacterium to human, has a soul and the concept forms the very basis of Jainism. According to Jainism, there

25160-509: The souls themselves ( Atman and jiva ) and have their physical representative (the body) in the world. The actual self is the soul, while the body is only a mechanism to experience the karma of that life. Thus, if one sees a tiger then there is a self-conscious identity residing in it (the soul), and a physical representative (the whole body of the tiger, which is observable) in the world. Many people believe that non-biological things, such as rivers and mountains, also possess souls. This belief

25330-448: The spine. The Scientology view is that a person does not have a soul, it is a soul. It is the belief of the religion that they do not have the power to force adherents' conclusions. Therefore, a person is immortal, and may be reincarnated if they wish. Scientologists view that one's future happiness and immortality, as guided by their spirituality, is influenced by how they live and act during their time on earth. Scientology's term for

25500-454: The term " ensouled " to represent the concept of being alive, indicating that the earliest surviving Western philosophical view believed that the soul was that which gave the body life. The soul was considered the incorporeal or spiritual "breath" that animates (from the Latin anima , cf. "animal") the living organism. Francis M. Cornford quotes Pindar by saying that the soul sleeps while

25670-564: The third for "Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai and his disciples", the fourth for those whom the cloud of glory carried off, the fifth for penitents, the sixth for youths who have never sinned, and the seventh for the poor who lived decently and studied the Torah. An early explicit mention of resurrection in Hebrew texts is the Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones in the Book of Ezekiel , dated somewhere around 539 BCE. Alan Segal argues that this narrative

25840-450: The time. Abraham ibn Daud was a student of Rabbi Baruch ben Yitzhak Ibn Albalia, his maternal uncle. Ibn Daud's philosophical work written in Arabic, Al-'akidah al-Rafiyah ("The Sublime Faith"), has been preserved in Hebrew by the title Emunah Ramah . Ibn Daud did not introduce a new philosophy, but he was the first to introduce a more thorough systematic form derived from Aristotle . Accordingly, Hasdai Crescas mentions Ibn Daud as

26010-430: The view that the soul is the ethereal substance – a spirit; a non-material spark – particular to a unique living being. Such traditions often consider the soul both immortal and innately aware of its immortal nature, as well as the true basis for sentience in each living being. The concept of the soul has strong links with notions of an afterlife, but opinions may vary wildly even within a given religion as to what happens to

26180-411: The views of both Rabbanite and Karaite scholars, Hiwi was declared a heretic. In this context, however, we can also regard Hiwi, while flawed, as the very first critical biblical commentator; zealous rationalistic views of Hiwi parallel those of Ibn al-Rawandi . Saʿadya Gaon dedicated an entire treatise, written in rhyming Hebrew, to a refutation of Ḥīwī's arguments, two fragments of which, preserved in

26350-482: The wilderness, and the kings of Israel; the fourth is of rubies and olive wood and is for the holy and steadfast in faith; the fifth is like the third, except a river flows through it and its bed was woven by Eve and the angels, and it is for the Messiah and Elijah ; and the sixth and seventh divisions are not described, except that they are respectively for those who died doing pious acts and those who died from illness in expiation for Israel's sins. Above this Paradise

26520-452: Was v . His philosophical works are "Meditation of the Soul", an ethical work written from a rationalistic religious viewpoint, and an apologetic epistle addressed to Judah ben Barzillai . Originally known by his Hebrew name Nethanel Baruch ben Melech al-Balad, Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī , known as Hibat Allah , was a Jewish philosopher and physicist and father-in-law of Maimonides who converted to Islam in his twilight years - once head of

26690-421: Was a savant with an exact knowledge of the theological movements of his time so much so that Moses ibn Ezra called him a mutakallim . Hai was competent to argue with followers of Qadariyyah and Mutazilites, sometimes adopting their polemic methods. Through correspondence with Talmudic Academies at Kairouan, Cordoba and Lucena, Hai Gaon passes along his discoveries to Talmudic scholars therein. The teachings of

26860-417: Was a steadfast Rationalist who did not hesitate to refute leading authorities, such as Rashi , Rabbeinu Tam , Moses ben Nahman , and Solomon ben Adret . The pogroms of 1391, against Jews of Spain, forced Isaac to flee to Algiers - where he lived out his life. Isaac's responsa evidence a profound knowledge of the philosophical writings of his time; in one of Responsa No. 118 he explains the difference between

27030-548: Was a student of Moses ibn Ezra whose education came from Isaac ibn Ghiyyat ; trained as a Rationalist, he shed it in favor of Neoplatonism. Like al-Ghazali , Judah Halevi attempted to liberate religion from the bondage of philosophical systems. In particular, in a work written in Arabic Kitab al-Ḥujjah wal-Dalil fi Nuṣr al-Din al-Dhalil , translated by Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon , by the title Kuzari he elaborates upon his views of Judaism relative to other religions of

27200-765: Was a student of his father Gerson ben Solomon of Arles , who in turn was a student of Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera . Gersonides is best known for his work Milhamot HaShem ("Wars of the Lord"). Milhamot HaShem is modelled after the " Guide for the Perplexed ". Gersonides and his father were avid students of the works of Alexander of Aphrodisias , Aristotle, Empedocles , Galen , Hippocrates , Homer , Plato, Ptolemy , Pythagoras , Themistius , Theophrastus , Ali ibn Abbas al-Magusi , Ali ibn Ridwan , Averroes, Avicenna , Qusta ibn Luqa , Al-Farabi , Al-Fergani, Chonain, Isaac Israeli, Ibn Tufail , Ibn Zuhr , Isaac Alfasi, and Maimonides. Gersonides held that God does not have complete foreknowledge of human acts. "Gersonides, bothered by

27370-488: Was a student of physician, and renowned Christian philosopher, Hana. His close interaction with Hana, and his familial affiliation with Islam gave al-Mukkamas a unique view of religious belief and theology. In 1898 Abraham Harkavy discovered, in Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, fifteen of the twenty chapters of David's philosophical work entitled Ishrun Maḳalat (Twenty Chapters) of which 15 survive. One of

27540-524: Was author of the earliest known Jewish philosophical work of the Middle Ages , a commentary on the Sefer Yetzirah ; he is regarded as the father of Jewish medieval philosophy. Al-Mukkamas was first to introduce the methods of Kalam into Judaism and the first Jew to mention Aristotle in his writings. He was a proselyte of Rabbinic Judaism (not Karaite Judaism , as some argue); al-Mukkamas

27710-402: Was being done to the fabric of Jewish culture. This compelled many anti-Maimonideans to recant their assertions and realize what cooperation with Christians meant to them, their texts and their communities. Maimonidean controversy flared up again at the beginning of the fourteenth century when Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet , under influence from Asher ben Jehiel , issued a cherem on "any member of

27880-612: Was born in Málaga then moved to Valencia . Ibn Gabirol was one of the first teachers of Neoplatonism in Europe. His role has been compared to that of Philo. Ibn Gabirol occidentalized Greco-Arabic philosophy and restored it to Europe. The philosophical teachings of Philo and ibn Gabirol were largely ignored by fellow Jews; the parallel may be extended by adding that Philo and ibn Gabirol both exercised considerable influence in secular circles; Philo upon early Christianity and Ibn Gabirol upon

28050-593: Was identical those of Abraham Ibn Daud : there can be no contradiction between the truths which God has revealed and the findings of the human intellect in science and philosophy. Maimonides departed from the teachings of Aristotle by suggesting that the world is not eternal, as Aristotle taught, but was created ex nihilo . In "Guide for the Perplexed" (1:17 & 2:11)" Maimonides explains that Israel lost its Mesorah in exile, and with it "we lost our science and philosophy — only to be rejuvenated in Al Andalus within

28220-527: Was intended as a metaphor for national rebirth, promising the Jews' return to Israel and reconstruction of the Temple , not as a description of personal resurrection. The Book of Daniel promised literal resurrection to the Jews, in concrete detail. Alan Segal interprets Daniel as writing that with the coming of the Archangel Michael , misery would beset the world, and only those whose names were in

28390-688: Was largely forgotten by Jewish tradition. Nonetheless, he had a significant impact on subsequent Jewish philosophical followers of the Kalām, such as Saʿadya Gaon. Samuel ibn Naghrillah , born in Mérida, Spain , lived in Córdoba and was a child prodigy and student of Hanoch ben Moshe. Samuel ibn Naghrillah, Hasdai ibn Shaprut , and Moshe ben Hanoch founded the Lucena Yeshiva that produced such brilliant scholars as Isaac ibn Ghiyyat and Maimon ben Yosef,

28560-537: Was pursued. Rabbinic Judaism had limited philosophical activity until it was challenged by Islam , Karaite Judaism, and Christianity —with Tanach, Mishnah, and Talmud, there was no need for a philosophic framework. From an economic viewpoint, Radhanite trade dominance was being usurped by coordinated Christian and Islamic forced-conversions, and torture, compelling Jewish scholars to understand nascent economic threats. These investigations triggered new ideas and intellectual exchange among Jewish and Islamic scholars in

28730-602: Was the son of Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Kohen Ibn Soussan and a student of Maimonides for whom the Guide for the Perplexed is written. Yosef traveled from Alexandria to Fustat to study logic, mathematics, and astronomy under Maimonides. Philosophically, Yosef's dissertation, in Arabic, on the problem of "Creation" is suspected to have been written before contact with Maimonides. It is entitled Ma'amar bimehuyav ha-metsiut ve'eykhut sidur ha-devarim mimenu vehidush ha'olam ("A Treatise as to (1) Necessary Existence (2) The Procedure of Things from

28900-465: Was the twelfth-century author of Bustan al-Uqul ("Garden of Intellects"), a Jewish version of Ismaili Shi'i doctrines. Like the Ismailis, Natan'el al-Fayyumi argued that God sent different prophets to various nations of the world, containing legislations suited to the particular temperament of each individual nation. Ismaili doctrine holds that a single universal religious truth lies at the root of

#883116