Abstract
DR. M. GASTER delivered a lecture on “Maimonides and his Works” at a meeting on November 14 of the Royal Asiatic Society in conjunction with the Society for Old Testament Study. He said that Maimonides was a man of strong faith which deeply influenced his activity. Fully conversant with the Hebrew and Arabic literature of the time, he displayed a threefold activity. First, his legal activity consisted in compiling for the first time a comprehensive code of laws which has remained the basis of Judaism to this very day, and prevented it from splitting up into sects. Secondly, his medical activity was intended to prove, besides furthering and stimulating medical research, that there is no incompatibility between science and faith; indeed, that they assist one another. Thirdly, his philosophical activity was intended to reconcile the tenets of faith with philosophic speculation. He endeavoured to answer some of the fundamental problems of human life, such as the existence of God, the problem of creation, the relation between God and man, revelation, sin and evil, punishment and reward, and immortality. With slight modification, the answers which he gave retain their value even at the present time.
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Maimonides. Nature 136, 829 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136829c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136829c0