Proofs for Eternity, Creation and the Existence of God in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Philosophy

‘This book is a tour de force of real scholarship, methodical analysis, and painstaking classification… Davidson’s canvas is vast. All the major Islamic and Judaic philosophers are here and the book is thus assured of a ready sale among students and scholars of both.’

* Philosophy East and West *

‘Extraordinarily successful… Davidson’s book is an invaluable contribution to the understanding of the history of ideas; it is also a stimulating essay of philosophical analysis.’

* Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies *

‘A towering achievement. At the height of his powers here, Davidson has gone back to the sources to assemble all the significant medieval Islamic and Jewish proofs for the eternity of the world, for the creation of the world, and for the existence of God… It is most welcome to see the medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophers treated so rigorously in their own right, not merely as precursors to Aquinas, or, even worse, as puppets dangling in a history of medieval thought. This book provides as clear an indication as one could hope to have of the health and vitality of Greek wisdom before its (re)discovery in (Christian) Europe.’

* Journal of the American Oriental Socie