The Two “Strangers”

Abstract This chapter provides four snapshots: ways in which four eminent Jewish thinkers reacted to the two “strangers,” the Greek art of abstract thinking and logic (philosophy), and the language of early Islamic theological debates (kalām). It explains how they attempted to adapt, criticize, celebrate, and refute them. In the case of tenth-century Eastern, Iraqi thinkers (Saadya and Al-Qirqisānī), the “strangers” meant styles, distinct voices, and eventually an example for expressing the tradition of Judaism. The Western, Andalusian figures (Halevi and Maimonides) regarded both kalām and philosophy not so much as styles, or languages, but as doctrines, crystallized dogmatic structures that can be accepted or refuted.