Menachem Kellner
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Menachem Kellner (born 1946) is an American-Israeli academic and Jewish scholar of medieval Jewish philosophy with a particular focus on the philosophy of Maimonides. He is a retired Professor of Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa and has taught courses in philosophy, religious studies, medieval and modern Jewish philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis, the College of William & Mary, the University of Virginia, and the University of Haifa. He is probably best known for his book Must A Jew Believe Anything?, which was a Koret Jewish Book Award finalist.
Biography
Kellner was born in Albany, New York in 1946, and studied at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois and Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem, Israel. He studied Western philosophy and Jewish philosophy at Washington University, receiving a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. His Ph.D dissertation was directed by Steven Schwarzschild. In 1980 he made aliyah to Israel.
Publications
Books
- Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought: From Maimonides to Abravanel (1986)
- Maimonides on Human Perfection (1990)
- Maimonides on Judaism and the Jewish People (1991)
- Maimonides on the "Decline of the Generations" and the Nature of Rabbinic Authority (1996)
- Must A Jew Believe Anything? (1999)
- Maimonides Confrontation with Mysticism (2006)
- Science in Bet Midrash: Studies in Maimonides (2009)
- Torah in the Observatory: Gersonides, Maimonides, Song of Songs (2010)
- Reinventing Maimonides in Contemporary Jewish Thought (2019)
Translations
- He is the translator of Isaac Abravanel’s Principles of Faith, Gersonides’ Commentary on Song of Songs, and Maimonides’ Book of Love.
References
External links
- Kellner, Menachem (Spring 2016). "Orthodoxy and "The Gentile Problem"". Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. Marc D. Angel. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- Menachem Kellner. Who is the Person Whom Rambam Says Can be 'Consecrated as the Holy of Holies'? Seforim Blog. November, 2007.
- Menachem Kellner. Review of Micah Goodman, Sodotav shel Moreh ha-Nevukhim (Secrets of the Guide of the Perplexed). H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. December, 2011.
- 1946 births
- 20th-century American philosophers
- 20th-century Israeli philosophers
- 21st-century American philosophers
- 21st-century Israeli philosophers
- American academics
- American emigrants to Israel
- American Jews
- American philosophy academics
- American translators
- College of William & Mary faculty
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
- Israeli academics
- Israeli Jews
- Israeli people of American-Jewish descent
- Israeli translators
- Jewish American academics
- Living people
- Mercaz HaRav alumni
- New York University alumni
- People from Albany, New York
- Philosophers of Judaism
- University of Haifa faculty
- University of Virginia faculty
- Washington University in St. Louis alumni
- Philosopher of religion stubs
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