The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Although Baḥyā ben Joseph ibn Paqūda follows the major categories of Sufism in his exploration of human motivation, he also manages to find a social justification for many aspects of Judaism. For example, one of the virtues he discusses is restraint or abstemiousness, the need to resist our desires. He argues that we can pursue this socially by our attitude to others by acquiring a cheerful and calm attitude toward others. A means of being disposed to act thus is the Torah and its laws, for these have the effect of training ourselves to restrain our desires and bring them under the rule of law. For Baḥyā the very private and personal moral rules that we adopt to bring us closer to God have a significant public element. The highest virtue is love of God, and to acquire this we need to practice personal asceticism, together with justice, good manners, and justice. Although the aim of his book on the duties of the heart is to show that Judaism is not only about external actions but has an inner spiritual dimension as well, he does not go to the extreme of denying the significance of law and prayer. On the contrary, he argues that the private and the public aspects of religion complement each other. His book also provides a detailed account of how that works in the case of Judaism.
Asceticism; Jewish Philosophy; Justice; Moral Rules and Principles; Sufism.
Fenton, Paul B. "Judaism and Sufism." In Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy, edited by Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman, 201–217. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Rudavsky, Tamar. "Medieval Jewish Neoplatonism." In History of Jewish Philosophy, edited by Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman. London: Routledge, 1997.
Al-Hid āya il ā faraʾiḍ al-Qul ūb (The book of direction to the duties of the heart). Translated by Menahem Mansoor. London: Routledge, 1973.
"Prayer and Faith." In Jewish Philosophy Reader, edited by Daniel H. Frank, Oliver Leaman, and Charles H. Manekin. London: Routledge, 2000.
Fenton, Paul B. "Judaism and Sufism." In History of Islamic Philosophy. 2 vols., edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman. London: Routledge, 1996.
Goodman, Lenn E. "Bahya on the Antinomy of Free Will and Predestination." Journal of the History of Ideas 44 (1) (1983): 115–130.