Shlomo Pines (; ; August 5, 1908 in

Charenton-le-Pont Charenton-le-Pont () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, to the north of the confluence of the Seine and Marne rivers; the () part of the name refers to the stone bridge across ...

– January 9, 1990 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

) was an Israeli scholar of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and Islamic philosophy, best known for his English translation of

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Tora ...

' ''

Guide of the Perplexed ''The Guide for the Perplexed'' ( ar, دلالة الحائرين, Dalālat al-ḥā'irīn, ; he, מורה נבוכים, Moreh Nevukhim) is a work of Jewish theology by Maimonides. It seeks to reconcile Aristotelianism with Rabbinical Jewish th ...

''.

Biography

Pines was born in Charenton-le-Pont near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and grew up in Paris, Riga, Archangelsk,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. His father, Meir Pines, was a scholar and businessman whose

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

dissertation comprised the first attempt at a history of

Yiddish literature Yiddish literature encompasses all those belles-lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Euro ...

. Between 1926 and 1934 Shlomo Pines studied philosophy,

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

, and

linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

at the universities of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

and

. Among his friends at Berlin were Paul Kraus and Leo Strauss, the latter of whom would contribute the lengthy introductory essay to Pines' classic translation of '' The Guide''. From 1937 to 1939 he taught the history of science in Islamic countries at the Institute of the History of Science in Paris. In 1940, he and his family departed for Palestine on the last boat leaving Marseilles before the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation of France (during which time 25% of

French Jews The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but persecution increased over time, including multiple expulsi ...

were deported and murdered). In the young State of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, Pines was a professor in the Department of

Jewish Thought Jewish thought ( he, מחשבת ישראל, ''Machshevet Yisrael'', or ''machshavah''), also known as Judaic thought or Hebraic thought, is a field of Jewish studies that deals with the products of Jewish thought and culture throughout the ages, an ...

and the Department of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1952 until his death in 1990. In 1971 Pines discovered a 10th-century Arabic version of the ''Testimonium Flavianum'' by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

due to

Agapius of Hierapolis Agapius of Hierapolis, also called Maḥbūb ibn Qusṭanṭīn; sometimes also called ''al-Rūmī al-Manbijī'' 'the Byzantine omanfrom Manbij' (died after 942), was a Melkite Christian historian and the bishop of Manbij. He wrote a universal hist ...

.Pines, Shlomo (1971). ''An Arabic version of the Testimonium Flavianum and its implications''. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Louis Feldman Louis Harry Feldman (October 29, 1926 – March 25, 2017) was an American professor of classics and literature. He was the Abraham Wouk Family Professor of Classics and Literature at Yeshiva University, the institution at which he taught s ...

(2006). ''Judaism and Hellenism reconsidered'' pp. 329-330 "Pines has created a considerable stir by bringing to the scholarly world's attention two hitherto almost completely neglected works." Pines also discovered a 12th-century

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

version of Josephus by Michael the Syrian. Leading scholar

stated that the discovery of Pines "created a considerable stir" in the academic community by drawing attention to two important historical works which had been almost completely neglected before then. Pines' fluency in a wide variety of modern and ancient languages, including

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

, Turkish, and Coptic, enabled him to undertake scholarship of uniquely broad scope.

Awards

* In 1968, Pines was awarded the Israel Prize, in the humanities. * In 1985, he was a co-recipient (jointly with Hillel Barzel and

David Weiss Halivni David Weiss Halivni ( he, דוד וייס הלבני; September 27, 1927 – June 28, 2022) was a European-born American-Israeli rabbi, scholar in the domain of Jewish sciences, and Professor of Talmud. He served as '' Reish Metivta'' of the U ...

) of the

Bialik Prize The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik ...

for Jewish thought.

Major publications

Most of Pines' articles and essays have been made freely available to the public by th
Shlomo Pines Society.
Pines' most recognized books include: *''Contributions to the Islamic Theory of Atoms'' (1936) *''The Development of the Notion of Freedom'' (1984) *''The Guide of the Perplexed I, II'' (1963) *''Between the Thought of Israel and the Thought of the Nations'' *''The Jewish Christians of the Early Centuries of Christianity According to a New Source'' (1966) *''Summary of Arabic Philosophy'', in the ''Cambridge History of Islam'' (1970)

References

External links

*Collected works of Shlomo Pines o
Academia.eduShomo Pines Bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pines, Shlomo 1908 births 1990 deaths 20th-century French Jews Jewish philosophers Israel Prize in humanities recipients Israel Prize in humanities recipients who were philosophers Israel Prize in humanities recipients who were historians Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Biography

Awards

Major publications

See also

References

Further reading

External links