Philosophy of Judaism entails the systematization of beliefs into an abstract structure of thought. As an important phase in the history of Judaism, philosophical thinking about Scripture and tradition began in response to the advent of Islamic philosophy. The rise of Islam from the seventh century C.E. brought important intellectual changes, because of the character of Islamic culture. Rabbinic Judaism accommodated that new mode of thought. Specifically, Muslim theologians, responding to Greek philosophy translated (not uncommonly by bilingual Jews) into Arabic, developed a mode of thought along philosophical lines, rigorous, abstract, and scientific, with special interest in a close reading of Aristotle, founder of the philosophical tradition of criticism. Rabbinic sages in the Islamic world then naturalized philosophy within the framework of Judaism. They thought philosophically about religious data; and they engaged with counterparts in Islam and Christianity and produced a common philosophy of religion as well.
The new thinking and the issues it generated represented a challenge to traditional doctrine and thought. While in ancient times, a school of Judaic philosophy in the Greek-speaking Jewish world, represented by Philo of Alexandria, read Scripture in the light of philosophical modes of thought, the sages of the Talmud did not follow that generalizing and speculative mode of thought. They read Scripture within a different framework altogether. But as the Judaic intellectuals of Islam faced the challenge of Muslim rationalism and philosophical rigor, they read Scripture and the Oral Torah in a new way. Their task was to reconcile and accommodate the principles of the one with the propositions of the other. In medieval Islam and Christendom, no Judaic intellectuals could rest easy in the admission that Scripture and science, in its philosophical form, came into conflict.
That is why alongside study of Torah a different sort of intellectual-religious life flourished in Judaism. It was the study of the tradition through the instruments of reason and the discipline of philosophy. The philosophical enterprise attracted small numbers of elitists and mainly served their specialized spiritual and intellectual needs. But they set the standard, and those who followed it included the thoughtful and the perplexed—those who took the statements of the tradition most seriously and, through questioning and reflection, intended to examine and then effect them. The Rabbinic philosophers of Judaism, moreover, were not persons who limited their activities to study and teaching. They frequently occupied high posts within the Jewish community and served in the high society of politics, culture, and science outside the community as well. Though not numerous, the philosophers exercised considerable influence, particularly over the mind in an age that believed reason and learning, not wealth and worldly power, were what really mattered.
Philosophy flourished in a world of deep religious conviction. The issues of philosophy were set, not by lack of belief, but by deep faith. Few, if any, denied providence, a personal God, and a holy book revealed by God through his chosen messenger. Everyone believed in reward and punishment, in a last judgment, and in a settling of accounts. The Jewish philosopher had to cope with problems imposed not only by the classical faith but also by the anomalous situation of the Jews themselves. That situation was perceived within the theology of the Torah that told the story of Israel as Adam’s counterpart and opposite, covenanted with God. The question of justice loomed large: How was philosophy to account reasonably for the homelessness of God’s people, who were well aware that they lived as a minority among powerful, prosperous majorities—Christian or Muslim?
The new context of intellectual competition contributed a new question: If the Torah were true, why did different revelations claiming to be based upon it flourish, while the people of Torah suffered? Why ought one to remain a Jew, when every day one was confronted by the success of the daughter religions? Conversion was always a possibility—an inviting one even under the best of circumstances—for a member of a despised minority. The search was complicated by the formidable appeal of Greek philosophy to medieval Christian and Islamic civilization. Its rationalism, its openness, its search for pure knowledge challenged all revelations. Philosophy called into question all assertions of truth verifiable not through reason but only through appeals to a source of truth not universally recognized. Reason thus stood, it seemed, against revelation. Mysterious divine plans came into conflict with allegations of the limitless capacity of human reason. Free inquiry might lead anywhere and so would not reliably lead to the synagogue, church, or mosque. And not merely traditional knowledge, but the specific propositions of faith and the assertions of a holy book had to be measured against the results of reason. Faith or reason—this seemed to be the choice.
For the Jews, moreover, the very substance of faith—in a personal, highly anthropomorphic God who exhibited traits of character not always in conformity with humanity’s highest ideals—posed a formidable obstacle. Classical conundrums of philosophy were further enriched by the obvious contradictions between belief in free will and belief in divine providence. Is God all-knowing? Then how can people be held responsible for what they do? Is God perfect? Then how can He change His mind or set aside His laws to forgive people? No theologian in such a cosmopolitan, rational age could begin with an assertion of a double truth or a private, relative one. The notion that something could be true for one party and not for another, or that faith and reason were equally valid and yet contradictory were ideas that had little appeal. And the holy book had to retain the upper hand. These, then, are the issues with which the philosophers of Judaism from medieval times to the present day have had to struggle.
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