World Religions › Medieval › Rabbinic Judaism
Maimonides
1138–1204· Founder, prophet or teacher· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Moses ben Maimon, a Spanish-born rabbi, physician and philosopher, the most influential Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Born in Córdoba in 1138, Maimonides fled with his family when the Almohad rulers pressed Jews to convert, settling in Cairo, where he became a court physician and Jewish community leader. His Mishneh Torah (c. 1180) arranged all of Talmudic law into 14 clear books. His Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), written in Arabic, reconciled the Torah with Aristotle's philosophy. He also listed 13 principles of Jewish faith, still sung in many synagogues as the hymn Yigdal.
Why it matters
He set the pattern for Jewish law codes and for reasoned faith. A Jewish saying holds: 'From Moses to Moses there was none like Moses.'
Life, legacy and sources
His own books and many letters and legal rulings, a number preserved in the Cairo Geniza, a synagogue storeroom of discarded papers; some manuscripts are in his own hand.
Questions and debates
Whether his family outwardly professed Islam for a time under the Almohads is debated. His philosophy sparked fierce 'Maimonidean controversies' among Jews after his death.
Connections (2)
▸Maimonides codified the law of Mishnah and TalmudHistorical record
The connection
The Talmud records centuries of rabbinic argument, often without clear rulings, and is hard to navigate. Maimonides' Mishneh Torah distilled its laws, from prayer and diet to courts and kingship, into a clear, topic-by-topic Hebrew code that gave final rulings without the arguments. Critics feared readers would skip the Talmud itself.
When and where
Cairo, Egypt, completed about 1180; sharply criticized by Rabbi Abraham ben David (the Rabad) of Provence.
Historical evidence
The Mishneh Torah itself, with Maimonides' introduction explaining his aim; critical notes by contemporaries; and its influence on the later Shulchan Aruch code.
Questions and debates
Scholars debate how far Maimonides' rulings reflected his own philosophy rather than the Talmud's plain sense, a criticism raised even in his lifetime.
▸Maimonides influenced Thomas AquinasHistorical record
The connection
Aquinas read Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed in Latin and called him 'Rabbi Moses'. He adopted Maimonides' use of Aristotle to explain faith, some of his arguments for God's existence, and the view that some truths are known by reason, others only by revelation, though he disputed his strict limits on describing God.
When and where
The Guide was translated into Latin around 1240, probably in Paris; Aquinas used it in Paris and Italy, c. 1250s–1270s.
Historical evidence
Aquinas cites 'Rabbi Moses' by name in the Summa and other works, sometimes agreeing, sometimes disagreeing.
Questions and debates
Scholars debate how deep the influence went, versus shared debts to Aristotle and Muslim philosophers like Avicenna.