The Guide For The Perplexed - Reception

Reception

While many Jewish communities revered Maimonides' work and viewed it as a triumph, others deemed many of its ideas heretical. The Guide was often banned, and in some occasions, even burned.

In particular, the adversaries of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah declared war against the "Guide." His views concerning angels, prophecy, and miracles — and especially his assertion that he would have had no difficulty in reconciling the biblical account of the creation with the doctrine of the eternity of the universe, had the Aristotelian proofs for it been conclusive — provoked the indignation of his coreligionists.

Likewise, some (most famously Rabbi Abraham ben David, known as the RaBad) objected to Maimonides' raising the notion of the incorporeality of God as a dogma, claiming that great and wise men of previous generations held a different view. However, Rabbi Bahya ibn Paquda's Chovot ha-Levavot argues strongly against the anthropomorphistic conception of the Deity; and the favor with which the Ravad looked upon it is sufficient ground on which to acquit him of the charge of having held anthropomorphistic views.

In contemporary Jewish circles, controversies regarding Aristotelian thought are significantly less heated, and, over time, many of Maimonides' ideas have become authoritative. As such, the book is seen as a legitimate and canonical, if somewhat abstruse, religious masterpiece.

The Guide had great influence in Christian thought, both Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus making extensive use of it: the negative theology contained in it also influenced mystics such as Meister Eckhart. It was also read and commented on in Islamic circles, and even today it remains in print in Arab countries.