PREFACE xv
studies for the study of Maimonides in par ticular and of Jewish and
Islamic thought in general.
The present book grew, as books do, out of my work over several
years, both in teaching and in writing. While some of the material it con-
tains is published here for the fi rst time, parts of it are based on previous
publications. These publications treated specifi c aspects of Maimonides’
thought, and the picture they offered was necessarily limited in scope. By
their integration into a full portrait I hope to show that the traits they
point to in Maimonides’ thought were not just episodes, moments, or
fl ashes in Maimonides’ thinking. This was indeed his world.