Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas (; ; c. 1340 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

– 1410/11 in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

) was a Spanish-Jewish

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and a renowned halakhist (teacher of Jewish law). Along with

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

("Rambam"), Gersonides ("Ralbag"), and Joseph Albo, he is known as one of the major practitioners of the rationalist approach to

Jewish philosophy Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until the modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconc ...

Biography

Hasdai Crescas came from a family of scholars. He was the grandson of the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ist Hasdai ben Judah Crescas, and a disciple of the Talmudist and philosopher Nissim of Gerona. Following his teacher's footsteps, he became a Talmudic authority and a philosopher of great originality. He is considered critical in the history of modern thought for his profound influence on Baruch Spinoza. After leaving Barcelona, he held the administrative position of crown rabbi of Aragon. p. 194 He seems to have been active as a teacher. Among his fellow students and friends, Isaac ben Sheshet, famous for his responsa, takes precedence. Joseph Albo is the best known of his pupils, but at least two others won recognition, Mattathias of

and Zechariah ha-Levi. Crescas was a man of means. As such, he was appointed sole executor of his uncle's will, Vitalis Azday, by King John I of Aragon in 1393. Still, though enjoying the high esteem even of prominent non-Jews, he did not escape their fate. Imprisoned with his teacher upon a false accusation of

host desecration Host desecration is a form of sacrilege in Christian denominations that follow the doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It involves the mistreatment or malicious use of a consecrated Sacramental bread, host—the bread used in ...

in 1378, he suffered personal indignities because he was a Jew. His only son was martyred in the massacre of 1391. Notwithstanding this bereavement, his mental powers were unbroken. The works that have made him famous were written after that terrible year. In 1401-02 he visited Joseph Orabuena in

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

at the request of Charles III of Navarre, who paid the expenses of his journey to various Navarrese towns (Jacobs, l.c. Nos. 1570, 1574). He was at that time described as "Rav of Zaragoza."

Works

His works on Jewish law, if indeed he ever committed to writing, have not reached us. But his concise philosophical work, ''Or Adonai'', ''The Light of the Lord'', became a classical Jewish refutation of medieval

Aristotelianism Aristotelianism ( ) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by Prior Analytics, deductive logic and an Posterior Analytics, analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics ...

and a harbinger of the

Scientific Revolution The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of History of science, modern science during the early modern period, when developments in History of mathematics#Mathematics during the Scientific Revolution, mathemati ...

of the 16th century. Three of his writings have been preserved: #His primary work, '' Or Adonai'' "Light of the Lord". #An exposition and refutation of the central doctrines of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. This treatise was written in 1398 in Old Catalan. The original is no longer extant, but a Hebrew translation by Joseph ibn Shem-Tov, with the title "Refutation of the Cardinal Principles of the Christians" has been preserved. The work was composed at the solicitation of Spanish noblemen. Crescas' object in writing what is virtually an apologetic treatise on Judaism was to present the reasons which held the Jews fast to their ancestral faith. #His letter to the congregations of

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

, published as an appendix to Wiener's edition of '' Shevet Yehudah'' of Solomon ibn Verga, in which he relates the incidents of the 1391 pogrom.

List of works

*''The Light of the Lord'' (Hebrew: ''Or Adonai'' or ''Or Hashem'') *''The Refutation of the Christian Principles'' (polemics and some philosophy) ** Daniel Lasker: ''Sefer Bittul Iqqerei Ha-Nozrim by R. Hasdai Crescas.'' Albany 1992. ** Carlos del Valle Rodríguez: ''La inconsistencia de los dogmas cristianos: Biṭṭul 'Iqqare ha-Noṣrim le-R. Ḥasday Crescas.'' Madrid 2000. *''Passover Sermon'' (religious philosophy and some halakha)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crescas, Hasdai 1340 births 1410s deaths 14th-century Catalan rabbis 14th-century Spanish philosophers 14th-century Jewish theologians 15th-century Catalan rabbis 15th-century Spanish philosophers Determinists Jewish apologists Medieval Jewish philosophers Medieval Catalan-language writers Philosophers from Catalonia Philosophers of Judaism Writers from Barcelona 14th-century writers from the Crown of Aragon

Biography

Works

List of works

References

Further reading

External links