Description: This pioneering study explores the intersecting approaches of Moses and Abraham Maimonides to divine illumination and revelation of the name Ehyeh asher Ehyeh, "I am that I am / I will be who I will be." The two thinkers offer fascinating, complementary visions of what it means to encounter the Divine.
Brief description: Diana Lobel is Associate Professor of Religion at Boston University. She is the author of Between Mysticism and Philosophy: Sufi Language of Religious Experience in Judah Halevi's Kuzari (2000), A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue: Philosophy and Mysticism in Baḥya Ibn Paqūda's Duties of the Heart (2007), The Quest for God and the Good (2011), and Philosophies of Happiness (2017).
Review Quotes: "...Moses and Abraham Maimonides: Encountering the Divine, offers us a far more nuanced comparison of Abraham and Moses Maimonides than we have previously seen. Lobel presents a valuable portrait of the interplay between Maimonides's philosophy and his inner religious life and spiritual practices. ...Lobel's book provides an excellent comparison between the thought of Moses and Abraham Maimonides. Her contributions to the scholarship, though subtle and nuanced, are certainly important. It is definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in Moses or Abraham Maimonides. ...She identifies nuanced differences and puts to rest facile oversimplifications. It is the start of the study, though, not the end. There remain important questions that, as Pines wrote, '"need further investigation.'""
- David Fried, The Lehrhaus