#moses maimonides

Plus Ca Change...

Accept the truth from whatever source it comes.

If I am not for me, then who is for me? But if I am only for me, then what am I?

We must first form a conception of the Existence of the Creator according to our capabilities; that is, we must have a knowledge of Metaphysics. But this discipline can only be approached after the study of Physics; for the science of Physics borders on Metaphysics, and must even precede it in the course of our studies, as is clear to all who are familiar with these questions. Therefore the Almighty commenced Holy Writ with the description of the Creation, that is, with Physical Science; the subject being on the one hand most weighty and important, and on the other hand our means of fully comprehending those great problems being limited. He described those profound truths, which His Divine Wisdom found it necessary to communicate to us in allegorical, figurative, and metaphorical language.

Historically speaking, Christianity’s self-understanding has been such that it is part of a knowledge tradition. According to Jesus in John 17, the goal of life—the good life—is the “knowledge of God.” The major concern by philosophers and theologians in the Middle Ages was largely a project expressed in Latin. Fides quarens intellectum means “faith seeking understanding.” Indeed, living at that time was the greatest philosopher and legal scholar of the Jewish tradition, Moses Maimonides. He considered faith to be a moral virtue. Thomas Aquinas, a contemporary and one of the most prolific writers in the Christian tradition, likewise considered faith to be a virtue. For him, it was the preeminent intellectual virtue such that in its absence, none of the other virtues can be fully expressed. He wrote approximately 100 volumes before he died at age 49. And this was without the benefit of the printing press. He certainly didn’t think that faith was in any sense blind. In the Middle Ages, it meant "faithfulness to a trust or promise; loyalty to a person; truthfulness.” From the Latin, fides conveys "trust, faith, confidence, reliance, belief.” Thus, faith was a sort of trust or confidence in a trustworthy object or person.