Maimonides claims that “we have to believe that the whole Torah was given to us by Moses, our teacher, entirely from God.” He then says that anyone who denies this principle is a heretic—with all the halakhic ramifications associated with such a designation applicable to the denier. Well, a new book begs to differ.
The Believer and the Modern Study of the Bible is a book whose raison d’etre is to critique or perhaps even negate Maimonides’ eighth principle. The book consists primarily of essays by rabbis and academics, all of whom are pushing back against Maimonides’ absolutist claim. The authors either reject or, at a minimum, problematize Rambam’s assertion that belief in a perfect Torah, written or dictated entirely by God, is an orthodox prerequisite.
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