The "Meteorological" Interpretation of the Creation Narrative: John Philoponus's Legacy in Abraham Ibn Ezra and Moses Maimonides (2022)
Visi, Tamás (Author)
Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism
Volume: 22
Issue: 1
Pages: 39-99
Abraham Ibn Ezra and Moses Maimonides both utilized earlier sources when they interpreted the biblical creation narrative. Some of their exegetical solutions, including the idea that the "firmament" and the "waters above the firmament" referred to regions of the atmosphere, can be traced back to earlier Judeo-Arabic commentaries. The latter were based on early medieval miaphysite Syriac sources, particularly Jacob of Edessa's Hexaemeron, and the exegetical tradition can be traced back ultimately to John Philoponus' treatise on the creation of the world. Philoponus' work was never translated to Syriac or Arabic as far as we know, but Philoponian ideas were transmitted in miaphysite Syriac exegetical literature. Nevertheless, we do find Philoponian exegetical solutions in Maimonides' work which are absent in the presently known intermediary sources. It is possible that Maimonides "reinvented" these Philoponian ideas through a systematic and creative re-reading of the transmitted material. However, despite his reputation as a major initiator of the "meteorological" exegesis in Jewish tradition, Maimonides was less innovative than Ibn Ezra in applying meteorological theories to biblical exegesis.
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