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Crescas H

Full Name: Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas

Achievements: Among the most creative figures of Jewish philosophy, challenging many of the accepted views of Aristotle

Born: c. 1340; likely Barcelona, Spain 

Died: 1412; Zaragoza, Spain (Aged about 72)

Field & Discipline: Philosophy; Theology

Language: Spanish; Hebrew

Father: Unknown

Mother: Unknown

Siblings: Unknown

Spouse: Unknown

Children: Unknown

Education: Tutored in Barcelona

Major Work: "The Light of the Lord"

Life & Times:

Crescas studied in Barcelona under the outstanding rabbinical intellectual,  Nissim Gerondi (known as Ran), whose instruction laid the groundwork for Crescas to become a major Talmud scholar.

As the years went by, Crescas, who had become a merchant, gained recognition as a leader of the Jewish community in Barcelona.  With the accession of John I in 1387, he became closely associated with the royal court of Aragon and was appointed the crown's chief rabbi in Zaragoza.  The appointment gave him the power to exercise civil and religious jurisdiction over the Jewish community there.

Spanish Jewry was the traditional repository of Jewish philosophy, but in the late 14th century, at the time of Crescas, anti-Jewish sentiment began to gain strength in the country.  In 1391, Crescas's son was killed in an anti-Jewish massacre.  As chief rabbi of the Aragonese Jews, Crescas was continually called upon to defend both his people and their faith against the Spanish Catholic clergy and populace.

Crescas's first known work, a chronicle of the 1391 massacre, was written in the form of a letter to the Jewish community of Avignon, France.  In 1397-98, seeking to reaffirm Jewish principles in the face of severe Christian persecution, he wrote a critique of 10 principles of Christianity, "A Refutation of the Principles of the Christians", in which he argued that core Christian dogmas were incompatible with reason.  Crescas's only full-scale philosophical-theological treatise, "Or Adonai” (Light of the Lord), written in the final decade of his life, was an effort to define and fortify the Jewish faith in the face of constant Christian attack.

Crescas believed that the main threat to Judaism came from within.  He suggested that an "alien woman" (the philosophy of [challenged views of] Aristotle*) had seduced Jewish thinkers into a misguided conception of Judaism, which made it easy for Christians to persuade Jews to convert.  To defend what he considered authentic Judaism, Crescas set about demolishing the foundations of Aristotle's thought by exposing what he considered its errors.  In particular he attacked the 12th-century Jewish philosopher [attacked] Maimonides*,  who was chiefly responsible for adapting Aristotelianism to Jewish thought.

Maimonides had prefaced his "Guide to the Perplexed" (1190) by laying down 25 principles of Aristotelian natural philosophy.   (For Maimonides and other Aristotelian philosophers, metaphysics in general and theology in particular rested on natural philosophy.)  Crescas subjected these propositions to an exacting analysis, rejecting several of the most fundamental.

He especially attacked the standard medieval proofs for the existence of God.  Many of these Aristotelian-based arguments presupposed the impossibility of an actual infinity, a concept that Aristotle believed he had proved.  Aristotle had argued that since there cannot be an infinite series of moving causes, there must be an Unmoved Mover as the ultimate cause of motion.  Or since there cannot be an infinite series of causes and effects existing simultaneously, there must be a First Cause to produce and sustain the whole series.

Crescas argued for the possible existence of infinite space,  a vacuum,  more worlds than one,  an infinite number of actual individuals,  and an infinitely large body.  (Crescas's ideas of actual infinities greatly appealed to the 17th-century Dutch-Jewish philosopher [influenced] Spinoza*, and were also quoted by the 15th-century Italian philosopher and humanist, [influenced] della Mirandola*.)

Crescas also rejected Aristotle's definitions of time and place, a well as the theory that the two elements fire and air are endowed with an absolute lightness that causes them to rise. He also attacked the theory that all four physical elements have their own natural place, which is the cause of their natural motion.

His most fundamental opposition to Aristotelianism, however, was his rejection of the idea that intellectual activity is the supreme state of being for man and for God.  To Crescas, God was not first and foremost an intellect, and the supreme goal to which man should aspire was not to pure intellect, but to love God with a love corresponding,  as far as possible,  to the infinite greatness of God,  and to rejoice in the observance of God's commandments.  Crescas'  God also loved man, and his love, in spite of the lowliness of its object, was proportionate to his infinity.

Crescas also attacked Aristotle's idea of the separation of intellect and soul, and challenged the notion that the intellect, as opposed to the soul, survived the death of the body.   In Crescas' view, the soul was a substance in its own right, could be separated from the body, and continued to exist after the body's death.

As sources for his writings, Crescas relied on the Jewish philosophers and the Hebrew translations of the Arab philosopher [influenced by] Averroes’* commentaries on Aristotle.  Crescas' anti-Aristotelian attitude may be placed in the wider context of a return to faith itself as opposed to the Aristotelian rationalization of religion, and the contemporary vogue for [influenced by] Cabbalism* (Jewish theosophical mysticism), both of which were characteristic features of Spanish Jewry in Crescas' time.

In "Or Adonai", Crescas offered a new creed for Judaism, based on a four-tier system: on the low level were the foundational axioms of the "root beliefs" in the existence, unity, and incorporeal nature of God; the next tier consisted of the ideas that make up revealed religion, such as divine omniscience and prophecy; on the third level were the beliefs taught by Judaism as the true revealed religion,  including the creation of the world, the primacy of Mosaic prophecy, and the coming of the Messiah (acceptance of which is obligatory for all Jews).

Finally, at the top, were views upheld by various Jewish sages, which are not binding, though one may believe in them,  including the plurality of universes, the existence of demons, and theories about the nature of the First Mover.

Extra Connections: His work linked with that of  Cabbalist [work related to] de Leon*

Assessment: Crescas produced a philosophical system that could compete with Aristotelianism on its own terms.

Oneliner: Hasdai Crescas, major medieval Jewish theologian

Bibliography:

Wikipedia

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