American Jewish Archives Journal, Vol 44, No. 01 (1992)

22 American Jewish Archives
through the careful juxtaposition of critical elements seemingly scattered
in various chapters.
That the synthesis of reason and revelation in the Moreh Nevukhim is
thoroughly Aristotelian is beyond any cavil. Aristotle's influence pervades
Maimonides' treatment of all Judaism's theological coordinates.
But what appears to be uncertain is Maimonides' real position on
Aristotle's belief in the eternity of matter, with its obviously implicit
denial of creation out of nothing and its challenge to corollary concepts.
Maimonides was fully aware of the centrality of eternity of matter
to Aristotle's thought. Yet, though he unequivocally accepted
Aristotle's other fundamental propositions, he appears to hedge on
the full acceptance of the eternity of matter into his synthesis.
Indeed, Maimonides' possible attraction to the eternity of matter
was not lost on the commentators supportive of the Guide in the three
centuries following its publication, for example, those of Shem Tob
ibn Falaquera (ca. 1225-1295), Joseph ben Abba Mari Tbn Kaspi
(127~1340)~ and Moses ben Joshua ben Mar David of Narbonne (d.
1362), also known as Narboni. Kaspi went so far as to claim that,
appearances notwithstanding, Maimonides had not refuted the doctrine
of the eternity of the world. Nor was it lost on the commentaries
that challenged the position of the Guide, among them most prominently
that of Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov (ca. 1390-ca. 1441).
But whatever their views, the commentaries implicitly attest to the
impact of Maimonidean thought and the cogency of its articulation for
a environment that foreshadowed Jewish society in the modern world.
The "Occidentation" of the Sephardic Phenomenon
The distinctive characteristics of Sephardic life in al-Andalus were
transferred to a Christian environment with the unfolding of Chris-
tian Iberia. This unfolding is known as the Reconquista, or the Chris-
tian reconquest of the Peninsula.
In retrospect, the Reconquista may be said to have begun in 722,
when a Visigothic nobleman named Pelayo successfully skirmished
with the Muslims near the village of Covadonga. It did not end until
the annexation of the emirate of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs
seven centuries and seven decades later. Legend romantically depicts