rabbis in the west (1000– 1500 ce) 327
notions to this purpose, and that philosophical argument at a high level
of abstraction was characteristic of the development of Christian
theology from the third century, but that talmudic discourse was focused
on other concerns. The reintroduction of philosophy into Judaism
reflected the challenge of Islamic (and, later, Christian) claims to their
own versions of ultimate truth, but many of the longest- lasting philo-
sophical notions to be adopted by all three religions were in origin the
arguments of pagan Greeks, notably Plato and Aristotle. Philosophical
speculation was not deemed by all Jews to be without its own dangers,
as we shall see. A search for rational explanation of religion might seem
to undermine the authority of revelation.
In Babylonia in the first half of the tenth century, the authority of
Saadiah Gaon, whose role as leader of the rabbinic academy in Sura and
vehement opposition to Karaites we have noted, integrated into Rab-
banite Judaism the earlier adoption by the Babylonian philosopher
David ibn Marwan Mukammis (also known as David haBavli) of the
approach of the kalam within Islam. Kalam was a form of scholasticism
which since the mid- eighth century had tackled issues of free will, phys-
ics (often in the form of atomistic theories), the impossibility of ascribing
attributes to God and the perfection of divine justice. One doctrine of
the Muʿtazilah, as the first school of the kalam was known, that the
Koran has not existed eternally but was created along with the rest of
the universe, was even declared official by the caliph al- Mamun in 833,
only to be denied by his successor al- Mutawakkil in 847. By the time of
Saadiah the kalamic approach was thus both well established and con-
troversial in the surrounding Islamic culture. But the reasons for
following the methods of rational interpretation of scripture used by the
kalam given by the Gaon in his Book of Beliefs and Opinions, written
in Judaeo- Arabic, was unapologetic:
The reader of this book should know that we inquire into and speculate
on the teachings of our religion for two reasons: first, to find out for our-
selves what we have learned as imparted knowledge from the prophets of
God; and secondly, to be able to refute anyone who argues against us con-
cerning anything to do with our religion ... In this way we engage in
speculation and inquiry, so as to make our own what our Lord has taught
us by way of imparted knowledge. This inevitably raises a point which we
must now consider. It may be asked: ‘If the teachings of religion can be
discovered by correct inquiry and speculation, as our Lord has informed
us, what prompted his wisdom to transmit them to us through prophecy