PHILOSOPHIC APPROACHES To SACRED SCRIPTURE IN JUDAISM
Keywords:
JUDAISMAbstract
According to the thesis of the late Harry Wolfson of Harvard2, it was Philo, the Jew of ancient Alexandria, who was the most important Western philosopher after Plato and Aristotle, because he attempted to bridge the gap between Athens and Jerusalem, namely to harmonize philosophy and revealed religion. All subsequent religious philosophy in the West was a Philonic attempt to relate philosophy and revelation, until Spinoza tore down that seventeen-century old structure by liberating philosophy from Scripture. By breaking with medieval tradition, Spinoza paved the way for modern philosophy. In short, it was Philo who made possible medieval philosophy, and it was Spinoza who made modern Western philosophy possible. We thus owe it to Philo that there arose a new dimension in the encounter between philosophy and religion : philosophical exegesis of the Bibte, which enables the religious philosopher to understand revelation philosophically and, simultaneously, to reconcicle philosophic doctrines with the teaching of religion. Furthermore, it provides the religious philosopher with an occasion, a platform both for teaching philosophy within a religious community and for demonstrating the rational Validity of religion within the philosophic community
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