Josef Stern
Biographic Data
| ID | 3788508 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Josef Stern |
| GIVEN NAMES | Josef |
| FAMILY NAME | Stern |
| SIGNATURE | STERN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Chicago |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6777-6434 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
A guide to the AfterDeath
This article analyses Moses Maimonides' account of the AfterDeath and, more specifically, of olam ha-ba’ (lit.: the world to come), the state of ultimate human happiness and perfection (in contrast to this world). Maimonides is unequivocal about what olam ha-ba’ is not. Contrary to a competing medieval Jewish tradition, it is utterly incorporeal and, contrary to rabbinic tradition, it is not a motivational reward nor compensation for undeserved s…
Maimonides’s Dream Argument and the Certainty of Prophecy
Two Moments in the Biography of Qedushah (a.k.a. Holiness)
This paper analyzes two transformative conceptions of qedushah (holiness) in medieval Jewish thought, Moses Maimonides’s and Moses Nahmanides’s. Maimonides reduces qedushah to the Mosaic commandments which he reconceives as communal institutions to constrain bodily desires and promote intellectualist values and as training for perfected individuals to de-corporealize themselves in imitation of God. Nahmanides argues that Maimonides’s legal reduct…
The Matter and Form of Maimonides' "Guide"
Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed is generally read as an attempt either to harmonize reason and revelation or to show that they are irreconcilable. Moving beyond these familiar debates, Josef Stern argues that the perplexity addressed in this famously enigmatic work is the tension between human matter and form: the body and intellect.
Matter and Form of Maimonides' Guide
The Knot That Never Was
The Knot That Never Was Josef Stern (bio) Samuel Ibn Tibbon was the first to notice an apparent contradiction, or knot, in Maimonides’ Guide. In three different passages Maimonides states that the heaven, or its motion, proves the existence of the deity (who, according to the second two passages, is also the mover and governor of the heaven), a conclusion, Ibn Tibbon naturally assumed, one thereby knows. The three passages are:1 (A) For it is the…
Metaphor in Context
Shlomo Pines on the Translation of Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed
The Fall and Rise of Myth in Ritual
A Living Covenant
Modes of Reference in the Rituals of Judaism
It is through ritual that religions often express their deepest truths, and historians and anthropologists of religion have long recognized the impor-tance of its symbolic dimension. Yet it remains to be explained how religious rituals perform this function. That is, in what ways do ritual gestures (the term of art I will henceforth use to refer to all actions and objects that achieve ritual status) symbolize or refer – reserving these two genera…
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Modes of Reference in the Rituals of Judaism
It is through ritual that religions often express their deepest truths, and historians and anthropologists of religion have long recognized the impor-tance of its symbolic dimension. Yet it remains to be explained how religious rituals perform this function. That is, in what ways do ritual gestures (the term of art I will henceforth use to refer to all actions and objects that achieve ritual status) symbolize or refer – reserving these two genera…
A Living Covenant
The Fall and Rise of Myth in Ritual
Shlomo Pines on the Translation of Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed
Metaphor in Context
The Knot That Never Was
The Knot That Never Was Josef Stern (bio) Samuel Ibn Tibbon was the first to notice an apparent contradiction, or knot, in Maimonides’ Guide. In three different passages Maimonides states that the heaven, or its motion, proves the existence of the deity (who, according to the second two passages, is also the mover and governor of the heaven), a conclusion, Ibn Tibbon naturally assumed, one thereby knows. The three passages are:1 (A) For it is the…
The Matter and Form of Maimonides' "Guide"
Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed is generally read as an attempt either to harmonize reason and revelation or to show that they are irreconcilable. Moving beyond these familiar debates, Josef Stern argues that the perplexity addressed in this famously enigmatic work is the tension between human matter and form: the body and intellect.
Matter and Form of Maimonides' Guide
Two Moments in the Biography of Qedushah (a.k.a. Holiness)
This paper analyzes two transformative conceptions of qedushah (holiness) in medieval Jewish thought, Moses Maimonides’s and Moses Nahmanides’s. Maimonides reduces qedushah to the Mosaic commandments which he reconceives as communal institutions to constrain bodily desires and promote intellectualist values and as training for perfected individuals to de-corporealize themselves in imitation of God. Nahmanides argues that Maimonides’s legal reduct…
Maimonides’s Dream Argument and the Certainty of Prophecy
A guide to the AfterDeath
This article analyses Moses Maimonides' account of the AfterDeath and, more specifically, of olam ha-ba’ (lit.: the world to come), the state of ultimate human happiness and perfection (in contrast to this world). Maimonides is unequivocal about what olam ha-ba’ is not. Contrary to a competing medieval Jewish tradition, it is utterly incorporeal and, contrary to rabbinic tradition, it is not a motivational reward nor compensation for undeserved s…
Philosophy (10 works) · Medieval and Classical Philosophy (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Theology (7 works) · History (4 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (3 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (3 works) · Judaism (3 works) · Psychology (3 works)