God's Chosen People
Subtitle: Judah Halevi's Kuzari and the Shīʻī Imām doctrine
By: by Ehud Krinis ; translated by Ann Brener and Tamar Liza Cohen
Contributors: Brener, Ann, 1969- translator; Cohen, Tamar Liza, translator
Series: Cultural encounters in late antiquity and the Middle Ages -- Volume 7; Cultural encounters in late antiquity and the Middle Ages -- v. 7.
Publisher: Brepols
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Turnhout, Belgium
Language: eng
Number of pages: 349
ISBN-13: 9782503543963
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: Shīʻah; Doctrines; Jews; Doctrine of Election
Other titles: Judah Halevi's Kuzari and the Shīʻī Imām doctrine
Description: "The first ever monographic study on the theological encounter of Judaism with Shīism through an explorartion of Judah Halevi’s reliance on basic themes of Shīism in the presentation of Judaism in his classical treatise, The Kuzari. The systematic formulation of the status of the People of Israel as the Chosen People of God stands at the heart of Judah Halevi’s famous theological and polemical treatise – the Kuzari. The idea of the Chosen People is an ancient one and is deeply rooted in Judaism. Through a wide-ranging textual and phenomenological investigation, this book highlights the novel and systematic presentation of the Chosen People in the Kuzari and shows how Judah Halevi draws, in a creative manner, on terms, concepts, and themes borrowed from the Shī‘ī doctrine of the Imām as presented in Shī‘ī literature. This book presents a historical perspective for understanding the basis of Judah Halevi’s attraction to Shī‘ī theology, with its unique category of God’s Chosen. The polemical argument over the issue of the legitimate successor to leadership in early Islam, as well as the debate around the legitimate successor-group in medieval interreligious disputes, emerges as the historical background for the seemingly surprising link between the Shī‘ī Imām doctrine and the idea of the Chosen People in Judah Halevi’s thought. This link on the one hand portrays Halevi as a bold, original thinker and, on the other, portrays the Shī‘ī Imām doctrine as exceedingly fruitful and reaching beyond the bounds of Islam."--
Notes: "The book ... is based on my doctoral thesis, written in the years 2003-07 in the Department of Jewish Thought in Ben-Gurion University...."--Page viii.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-337) and indexes.

Translated from the Hebrew.
Table of contents: title: Background; title: Continuity; title: Hierarchy and meditation; title: Exclusivity and dependence; title: Conclusion.