"Solomon Ibn Gabirol on the Worship of Non-Jews (and of Animals)," with Jonathan Decter, Brandeis University

The first talk of the series titled "Intertwined Worlds: Judaism and Islam in Historical Perspectives:"

"Solomon Ibn Gabirol on the Worship of Non-Jews (and of Animals)," with Jonathan Decter, Brandeis University

The Jewish poet and philosopher Solomon Ibn Gabirol held a unique perspective on “those who worship other than” God whereby all non-Jews, whether wittingly or unwittingly, direct their worship toward the one God. However, this resulted not from an enlightened religious tolerance but rather was a natural consequence of the author’s ontological system, which also accepted that animals worship God.

Jonathan Decter is the Edmond J. Safra Professor in Sephardic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He is a specialist in the religion, literature, and thought of the Jews in the medieval Islamic world, medieval Spain, and the Mediterranean. His two prize-winning books are Iberian Jewish Literature: Between al-Andalus and Christian Europe (Indiana University Press, 2007), and Dominion Built of Praise: Panegyric and Legitimacy among Jews in the Medieval Mediterranean (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018).

This series is cosponsored by The Middle East North African Studies Program, The Comparative Literary Studies, The Northwestern Library, The Northwestern Academic Enrichment Committee and The Alumni Association of Northwestern

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