SOURCE: Kellner, Menachem Marc. “Maimonides and Gersonides on Mosaic Prophecy.” Speculum 52, no. 1 (January 1977): 62-79.

In the following essay, Kellner compares Gersonides's understanding of the nature of the prophecies of Moses with Maimonides's interpretation of them.

Gersonides¹ and Maimonides² shared many ideas concerning the possibility and nature of prophecy. This is hardly surprising; not only were they both Jewish Aristotelians, but Gersonides clearly implies that the problems he raises in his major philosophic work, Milhamot Hashem, are those problems and only those problems to which Maimonides failed to provide adequate solutions.³ In this essay I want to examine Gersonides' understanding of prophecy in general and his conception of Mosaic prophecy in particular. This issue is of considerable importance. By examining Maimonides' and Gersonides' opinions concerning the prophecy of Moses, we can better understand their opinions concerning the immutability of the Torah and the Election of Israel. The case of...