138:
well as merit and demerit (v.). Closely connected with these sections are those that treat of the soul and of death (vi.), and of the resurrection of the dead (vii.), which, according to the author, forms part of the theory of the
Messianic redemption (viii.). The work concludes with a section on the rewards and punishments of the future life (ix.). The tenth section, on the best mode of life for mankind in this world, must be regarded as an appendix, since its admonitions to moral conduct supplement the exhortations to right thought and right belief contained in the main body.
129:
fear God, the "veritable revelation" contained in the
Scriptures. He shows that a belief in the teachings of revelation does not exclude an independent search for knowledge but that speculation on religious subjects rather endeavours to prove the truth of the teachings received from the Prophets and to refute attacks upon revealed doctrine, which must be raised by philosophical investigation to the plane of actual knowledge.
161:, he proceeds to state and refute the twelve theories of the origin of the world. This part of the first section gives a most interesting insight into Saadia's knowledge of the Greek philosophers, which he probably derived from reading Aristotle. At the end of the section, Saadia refutes specific objections to the Jewish doctrine of Creation, especially those that proceed from the concepts of
243:) to the effect that man needs no prophets, introduces his account of prophecy and his apology for the Prophets. This is followed by theses on the essential content of the Bible and the credibility of Biblical tradition, by a detailed refutation of the Christian and Islamic view that the Law revealed in Israel has been repealed, and by a polemic against a series of
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Judaism while those who denied the faith triumphantly vaunted their errors. Men were sunken in the sea of doubt and overwhelmed by the waves of spiritual error, and there was none to help them, so Saadia felt called and duty-bound to save them from their peril by strengthening the faithful in their belief and by removing the fears of those who were in doubt.
210:, which, in Saadia's opinion, arises from a misinterpretation of the three attributes of God already named: life, power, and knowledge. Connected with the refutation of the dogma of the Trinity is an outline of the various theories respecting the person of Jesus that reveals an accurate understanding of Christian controversies. See
280:
People fall into ten classes concerning merit, demerit, and religious and moral bearings. In his description of the first two, the pious and the impious, Saadia devotes himself to the problem of the sufferings of the devout and the good fortune of the impious. In contrast, the description of the last
128:
After a general presentation of the causes of uncertainty and doubt and the essence of belief, Saadia describes the three natural sources of knowledge: namely, the perceptions of the senses, the light of reason, and logical necessity, as well as the fourth source of knowledge possessed by those that
325:
of the dead, and presents the proof for it contained in tradition. He then discusses ten questions bearing on this doctrine, which are of interest as "affording an insight into popular views that then prevailed, and which, despite their singularity, could not be ignored even by such a man as Saadia"
234:
have been given to man by the grace of God as a means to attain the highest blessedness. According to a classification borrowed by Saadia from the Muʿtazila but based upon an essentially Jewish view, the commandments are divided into those of reason and of revelation, although even the latter may be
481:
of the 18th century), the
Maimonidean controversy and early Kabbalah. Its language is highly poetic. The seventh section, on the resurrection, is contained in two versions, the first of which, the basis of the translation of ibn Tibbon, has been edited by Bacher in the "Steinschneider Festschrift,"
217:
To render possible an understanding of the monotheistic concept of God in all its purity, and to free the statements of the
Scriptures from their apparent contradictions of the spirituality of the absolute idea of God, Saadia interprets all the difficulties of the Bible that bear upon this problem,
137:
In the first two sections, Saadia discusses the metaphysical problems of the creation of the world (i.) and the unity of the
Creator (ii.); in the following sections, he discusses revelation (iii.) and the doctrines of belief based upon divine justice, including obedience and disobedience (iv.), as
124:
In his detailed introduction, Saadia speaks of the reasons that led him to compose it. His heart was grieved when he saw the confusion concerning matters of religion that prevailed among his contemporaries, finding an unintelligent belief and unenlightened views current among those who professed
374:
contained in the appendix is based mostly on a description and criticism of thirteen different objects of life, to which Saadia adds his own counsels for rational and moral living. He also adds that in the case of each of the five senses, only the concordant union of sensuous impressions is
473:; comp. "Monatsschrift," xlvi. 536). It was the principal means by which Saadia's philosophy was known to non-Arabic speaking Jews during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The Paraphrase was an important and influential document to the evolution of theology of the early medieval
305:. He states the relation of the soul to the body, the basis of their union, their cooperation in human activity, their coexistence or the appointed term of life, their separation or death, and the state of the soul after death. The section concludes with refuting the doctrine of
190:
as a creator necessarily implies the attributes of life, power, and knowledge. In like manner, the concept of a creator demonstrates the unity of God. For this view three direct and three indirect proofs are offered by Saadia, the latter showing that dualism is absurd. See
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of God. In its opening portion Saadia postulates the anthropocentric doctrine that regards man as the object of all creation; and at its close he explains under eight headings those passages of the Bible that might cause doubt regarding the freedom of the acts of man. See
218:
using the scheme of the ten
Aristotelian categories, none of which, he shows, may be applied to God. After this section, the author shows a deep religious feeling about the relation to the Deity sustained by the human soul when permeated by the true knowledge of God.
375:
beneficial, thus showing how great the need is for a harmonious combination of the qualities and the impulses of the soul of man. He concludes with the statement that he intends his book only to purify and ennoble the hearts of his readers.
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arises by degrees from the merest sensuous impressions to the most subtle concepts so that the idea of the divine, which transcends all other knowledge in subtlety, is itself a proof of its verity. The concept of
346:. In the concluding portion the author refutes those who assume that the Messianic prophecies refer to the time of the Second Temple; he also argues against the Christian doctrine of the Messiah.
460:, of uncertain authorship, is contained in several manuscripts (the most important being MS. Vatican 266); large portions of this rendering were edited by Gollancz (
157:, which may also be traced elsewhere in his writings. After his rational demonstrations have led him to the conclusion that the world was created
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A survey of six other theories prefaces his view on the soul. The list is a parallel of those provided already by
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explained rationally, as is shown by numerous examples. An excursus, in which Saadia attacks the view of the
510:(in Hebrew). Translated by Yosef Qafih. Kiryat Ono: Mekhkon Mishnat ha-Rambam. p. 6 (Introduction).
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Here Saadia refutes the objections made, based on nature, reason, and the Bible, to the doctrine of the
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The ethical treatises of
Berachya son of Rabbi Natronai Ha-Nakdan: being the compendium and the Marṣref
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393:
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342:, the definite year of salvation being fixed by an interpretation of well-known passages in the
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Stroumsa, Sarah (2003), "Saadya and Jewish kalam", in Frank, Daniel H.; Leaman, Oliver (eds.),
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class, that of the contrite, leads him to detailed considerations, based upon the Bible, of
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in 1562 and frequently republished, while the original was edited in Arabic characters by
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90:). An unabridged translation into English by Samuel Rosenblatt was published in 1948.
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An introduction prefaces the work and has ten chapters; it was completed in 933.
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with quotations from the Torah. The first Hebrew translation was done in 1186 by
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The most important points contained in the individual sections are as follows:
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Saadia demonstrates that the compensations of the world to come are proved by
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486:, will be published by the Israel Academy of Sciences and the Humanities.
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Different library copies thereof are freely available from Google Books:
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redemption are based almost entirely on statements of the Bible and the
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pp. 98–112, and the second by
Landauer. This paraphrase, entitled
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Book of
Beliefs & Opinions (Sefer ha-Nivḥar ba-emunot uva-deʻot)
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The thesis of God's absolute unity is established by refuting the
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Although the work was originally in Arabic, it was translated by
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The
Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy
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The foundation of this section is the theory of the
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is prefaced by a development of the view that human
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626:. Transl. Samuel Rosenblatt. Yale Judaica (1942).
456:Another translation, or rather paraphrase, of the
247:'s objections to the authority of the Scriptures.
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52:presentation and philosophic foundation of the
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624:Saadia Gaon-the Book of Beliefs and Opinions
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484:Pitron Sefer ha-Emunot ve-Ḥerṣav ha-Binot
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580:public domain, 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
550:Bibliotheek Universiteit van Amsterdam's
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251:iv Free will: obedience and disobedience
212:Jewish principles of faith: Divine Unity
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652:Jewish philosophical and ethical texts
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431:
289:, and other evidences of human piety.
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230:"divine commandments" revealed in the
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366:x Moral conduct, thought and belief
222:iii Revelation and the Commandments
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48:(completed 933) which is the first
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16:10th century Jewish philosophy text
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667:10th-century Arabic-language books
619:Full text in Hebrew (Rashi Script)
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558:Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden's
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317:vii The resurrection of the dead
259:and its reconciliation with the
21:The Book of Beliefs and Opinions
672:Hebrew-language religious books
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458:Kitāb al-Amānāt wa l-Iʿtiqādāt
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41:Kitāb al-Amānāt wa l-Iʿtiqādāt
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270:Free will In Jewish thought
173:ii The unity of the Creator
145:i The creation of the world
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657:Jewish medieval literature
396:, who also translated the
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394:Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon
330:viii Messianic redemption
73:Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon
30:كتاب الأمانات والاعتقادات
334:The teachings regarding
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149:For the doctrine of the
97:Premise and introduction
662:Judeo-Arabic literature
155:Aristotelian philosophy
44:) is a book written by
554:Universiteit Leiden's
542:UC Berkeley Library's
293:vi The soul and death
151:creation of the world
463:ha-Nakdan, Berechiah
350:ix The world to come
109:, which rejects the
88:Beliefs and Opinions
637:Full Text in Arabic
276:v Merit and demerit
257:freedom of the will
562:at HebrewBooks.org
204:Christian doctrine
193:apophatic theology
595:978-0-521-65207-0
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420:Yosef Qafih
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265:omniscience
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46:Saadia Gaon
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384:Ibn Tibbon
283:repentance
111:Oral Torah
50:systematic
609:Full text
603:Resources
516:989874916
422:in 1970.
360:tradition
336:Messianic
299:Aristotle
183:knowledge
159:ex nihilo
75:, titled
35:romanized
506:(2011).
465:(1902).
435:(1948).
241:Brahmans
133:Contents
105:against
228:mitzvot
208:Trinity
206:of the
115:Mishnah
58:Judaism
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613:Hebrew
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426:Others
416:Leiden
399:Kuzari
372:ethics
356:reason
340:Talmud
307:gilgul
287:prayer
119:Talmud
81:Hebrew
54:dogmas
26:Arabic
390:rabbi
237:Hindu
232:Torah
167:space
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590:ISBN
512:OCLC
443:ISBN
301:and
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226:The
195:and
165:and
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179:God
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