I asked you this question last week and one of you had the right answer within nine hours. That's pretty damn good. Better than me.If you visit the U.S. House of Representatives, you'll notice twenty-three marble relied portraits of famous lawgivers. One of them is Maimonides.
He was a Renaissance man before the Renaissance, a philosopher, scientist, physician, jurist, theologian and mathematician. He is considered the foremost Jewish scholar of all time. Born in 1138, he lived his entire life in an Islamic civilization. Ironically, at that time the Islamic civilization was far more secular than the Christian world, embracing a variety of cultures and peoples in which a person like Maimonides could blossom. Some say he served briefly as personal physician to Richard Couer de Lion. (the Lionheart).
I am reading a recent biography, Maimonides, written by Joel L Kraemer. I'm ashamed to say I knew nothing about him until I saw that book.
4 comments:
Crickets for the remarkable dead white guy. New versions of Western Civilization are being written every day and those famous lawgivers will soon be chiseled from the buildings in favor of more "acceptable" figures.
Bernie,
There were many more people that fit this profile that came before him. Read about Ibn and Avicena.
There were a lot of Jewish scholars that were fluent in Arabic and Greek that lived in Spain that had more of an affect on civilization and religion. A few of them were even associated with (gasp) the Order of Preachers / Dominicans! And before them, there were the Eastern fathers that came out of Syria, Turkey, Antioch, and Lebanon. These fathers are just getting re-introduced to the western culture with the help of JP II and Benedict XVI. These guys were laughed at their entire careers and even up until today. But they had it, way ahead of any western philosopher. Most importantly because there was no confusion in the translation of the original source of languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic.)
The Phoenicians and other maritime traders were key to this spreading of the knowledge. They had first hand knowledge of the material and were, at the time, the only ones capable of travel along the trade routes.
That is why I laugh when I see a depiction of Jesus with blond hair and blue eyes. He came from the Near East. If anything, he had curly hair or an afro and probably had olive color skin. But try to get that into the people's mind today.
Keep an eye towards the Near East in regard to philosophy and religion. There is a lot to be gained from their toil. It will eventually come back full circle one day.
Peace be with you, ~~Alex
As Anon 9:07 am on the original Maimonides post, I'm glad to see that I was, in fact, correct.
I resided briefly in Spain and when you travel in Andalucia you certainly appreciate the scientific, architectural and otherwise cultural achievements of the Moors. For anyone who plans to travel to Spain, I recommend spending a day in Cordoba, where Maimonides lived. The biggest attraction is the Mezquita, a former Mosque the size of 2 soccer stadiums. During the Reconquista, the Christians converted the center of the Mezquita to a Catholic Church, choosing to preserve the Moorish architectural triumph. Although probably the lesser visited of the cities of Andalucia (Seville, Granada and Marbella likely having more visitors), it is a compelling window into the past.
In 2000 A.D. the most populous city in the world was Mexico City. In 1900 A.D. it was London. In 1000 A.D. it was Cordoba.
Largest World Metropolitan Areas
2000 Estimates
Tokyo-Yokohama 33,190,000
New York 21,362,000
Seoul-Inchon 19,920,000
Mexico City 19,620,000
Sao Paulo 17,720,000
Mumbai (Bombay) 17,580,000
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