The Light of the Lord

Abstract

R. Hasdai Crescas’ magnum opus, The Light of the Lord, written in Spain and completed in 1410,1 is a study in contrasts. It is a treatise devoted to a systematic presentation of Jewish dogma that contains probably more original and profound purely philosophic insights and arguments than any other Jewish treatise of the Middle Ages. It is an Anti-Aristotelian work that not only attacks the foundations of Aristotelian philosophy from a religious standpoint but also from a philosophic one. In many ways it anticipates Spinoza’s 17th century critique of Aristotle, and may well have influenced it.2 At the same time, Aristotelian thought pervades the Light of the Lord. Despite the fact that Crescas clings to the view of a freely willing personal deity of Jewish tradition and makes it the foundation of his philosophy, he in many ways remains in the orbit of the Aristotelian tradition in his thinking.