300:, Harvard University Press (1947). Until the publication of this book, Philo had been considered no more than a preacher with a philosophic bent. Wolfson showed that behind the philosophic utterances scattered throughout Philo's writings there lay a coherent philosophic system. Wolfson went even further, claiming that Philo was the founder of religious philosophy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and that "Philonic" philosophy dominated European thought for 17 centuries until it was destroyed by Spinoza,
152:, where, it would turn out, he would remain for the rest of his career. He earned his Bachelor's degree in 1911, Master's in 1912, and Ph.D. in 1915. His only absences were the years 1912–1914, when he held a traveling fellowship from Harvard which enabled him to study and do research in Europe, and some months in 1918 when he was conscripted into the Army, and together with
229:, transposed into a modern university setting, studying day and night, resisting presumptive attractions and distractions, honors and chores, with a tenacity which sometimes seemed awkward and antisocial." He spent vast amounts of time secluded in the
179:
stepped up and endowed him a permanent chair in his father's honor, the Nathan
Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy. Wolfson was the first professor in any American university to occupy a chair devoted solely to Jewish studies.
271:
Wolfson was additionally known as a "daring" scholar, one who was not afraid to put forward a bold hypothesis with limited evidential support. In his work
Wolfson therefore often chooses bold conjecture over safe, but boring, analyses
541:
571:
Perspectives on Jewish
Thought and Mysticism: Proceedings of the International Conference held by The Institute of Jewish Studies, University College London, 1994, in Celebration of its Fortieth Anniversary
175:
took responsibility for. He was promoted to faculty instructor and then
Assistant Professor in 1921. In 1925 his position was to be terminated unless he could obtain permanent outside funding.
268:. The best-known of these works are listed below, their publication in several instances—among them the work on Philo—having been considered scholarly events of the first magnitude.
644:
207:
on
September 19, 1974. His brother Nathan survived him by 27 years, living to age 101 until 2001. Another notable family member was his nephew Erwin S. Wolfson who developed the
699:
714:
334:. He was known principally, as mentioned above, for crossing all artificial boundaries of scholarship, as best revealed by the titles of some of his papers:
694:
704:
684:
237:
writes that even in his retirement, Wolfson was "still the first person to enter
Widener library in the morning and the last to leave it at night."
133:. He emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1903. They settled in New York's East Side. Wolfson was invited to teach Hebrew to children in
724:
679:
689:
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195:, the scholar of early medieval theology, was among his students. He received honorary degrees from 10 different universities (
137:, which he did for three years while earning his diploma from Scranton High School. Wolfson took the entrance examination for
569:
Mendes-Flohr, Paul (1998), "Jewish scholarship as a vocation", in Alfred L. Ivry, Elliot R. Wolfson & Allan Arkush (ed.),
383:
719:
674:
126:
709:
517:
481:
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345:
The double faith theory in
Clement, Saadia, Averroes and St. Thomas, and its origin in Aristotle and the Stoics
443:
89:
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183:
Wolfson held the chair from 1925 until his retirement in 1958. He was a student and friend both of
734:
729:
204:
145:
130:
286:
Crescas' Critique of
Aristotle: Problems of Aristotle's Physics in Jewish and Arabic philosophy
163:
Wolfson was offered an appointment as annual instructor in Jewish philosophy and
Literature at
134:
19:(November 2, 1887 – September 19, 1974) was an American scholar, philosopher, and historian at
339:
The meaning of "Ex Nihilo" in the Church
Fathers, Arabic and Hebrew philosophy, and St. Thomas
664:
659:
160:, New York, and was then transferred to the Adjutant General's Office in Washington, D.C..
64:
8:
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363:
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20:
493:
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110:
72:
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87:), in Wolfson is also represented the fulfillment of the goals of the 19th-century
60:
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Harry Austryn Wolfson Jubilee Volume on the Occasion of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday
598:
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56:
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24:
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in 1915, provided he could find outside funding for his salary, which judges
653:
579:
Schwarz, Leo W. (1965), "A bibliographical essay", in Lieberman, Saul (ed.),
390:
Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
298:
Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
225:
192:
172:
118:
28:
292:
The Philosophy of Spinoza: Unfolding the Latent Processes of His Reasoning
630:
418:
307:
The Philosophy of the Church Fathers: Volume I Faith Trinity, Incarnation
168:
157:
83:
scholar to progress through an entire career at a top-tier university (
40:
622:
357:
The amphibolous terms in Aristotle, Arabic philosophy, and Maimonides
388:
1949: National Jewish Book Award in the Jewish Thought category for
351:
The internal senses in Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew philosophical texts
614:
265:
63:. He collapsed the artificial barriers that isolated the study of
44:
257:
253:
248:, the philosophy of the church fathers, the repercussions of the
122:
106:
102:
80:
48:
35:, but he also authored an astonishing variety of other works on
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Wolfson wrote works including a translation and commentary on
31:. He is known for his seminal work on the Jewish philosopher
261:
249:
101:
Wolfson was born to Sarah Savitsky and Max Mendel Wolfson in
52:
32:
330:
A complete bibliography of Wolfson's work can be found in
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the last of the medievals and the first of the moderns.
200:
700:
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
366:
on time and space and his relation to Locke and Kant
715:
Harvard University Department of Philosophy faculty
633:(1976), "Recollections of Harry Austryn Wolfson",
421:(1976), "Recollections of Harry Austryn Wolfson",
372:, Press of the Jewish Institute of Religion (1927)
199:), and was a founding member and president of the
583:, Jerusalem: American Academy for Jewish Research
651:
223:writes, "He was reminiscent of an old-fashioned
319:Repercussions of the Kalam in Jewish philosophy
468:Bibliothèque nationale de France {BnF Data}. "
695:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
601:(1975), "Harry Austryn Wolfson, 1887–1974",
568:
444:"Harry A. Wolfson writings and publications"
84:
370:Jewish studies in memory of Israel Abrahams
219:Wolfson was a tireless scholar. About him
705:Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America
685:20th-century American non-fiction writers
591:Wolfson of Harvard: Portrait of a Scholar
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603:Journal of the American Oriental Society
573:, Australia: Harwood Academic Publishers
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498:American Academy of Arts & Sciences
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294:, Harvard University Press (1934/1962).
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144:In September 1908, Wolfson arrived in
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384:American Academy of Arts and Sciences
203:. Wolfson never married. He died in
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201:American Academy for Jewish Research
725:Jewish American non-fiction writers
13:
680:20th-century American male writers
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690:American male non-fiction writers
470:Harry Austryn Wolfson (1887-1974)
321:, Harvard University Press (1979)
315:, Harvard University Press (1976)
309:, Harvard University Press (1956)
670:20th-century American historians
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23:, and the first chairman of a
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313:The Philosophy of the Kalam
156:received basic training at
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90:Wissenschaft des Judentums
710:Harvard University alumni
233:pursuing his research.
59:, and the foundations of
635:American Jewish Archives
589:Schwarz, Leo W. (1978),
423:American Jewish Archives
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214:
205:Cambridge, Massachusetts
146:Cambridge, Massachusetts
494:"Harry Austryn Wolfson"
131:Moshe Mordechai Epstein
368:, pp. 426–440 in
211:in Manhattan in 1960.
135:Scranton, Pennsylvania
79:). Being the first
394:1956: Elected to the
382:1933: Elected to the
17:Harry Austryn Wolfson
546:search.amphilsoc.org
542:"APS Member History"
450:. Harvard University
141:and won admission.
65:Christian philosophy
522:Jewish Book Council
364:Solomon Pappenheim
165:Harvard University
150:Harvard University
115:Shchuchyn district
69:Islamic philosophy
21:Harvard University
377:Awards and honors
189:George Foot Moore
111:Vilna Governorate
85:Mendes-Flohr 1998
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109:: Ostrin),
654:Categories
641:(1): 25–50
563:References
551:2023-01-11
527:2020-01-23
503:2023-01-11
429:(1): 25–50
148:to attend
93:movement.
41:Maimonides
402:Footnotes
246:Or Adonai
97:Biography
71:and from
326:Articles
266:Averroes
45:Averroes
454:22 June
258:Spinoza
254:Judaism
123:Belarus
107:Yiddish
103:Astryna
81:Judaica
49:Spinoza
37:Crescas
623:600314
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359:(1938)
353:(1935)
347:(1942)
341:(1948)
288:(1929)
264:, and
55:, the
51:, the
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280:Books
262:Philo
250:Kalam
215:Works
67:from
53:Kalam
33:Philo
645:link
456:2023
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187:and
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