Deconstructing the Bible: Abraham ibn Ezra's Introduction to the Torah (Routledge Jewish Studies Series)

by Irene Lancaster

This book represents the first attempt by a single author to place the great Spanish Jewish Hebrew bible exegete, philosopher, poet, astronomer, astrologer and scientist Abraham ibn Ezra (1089-1164) in his complete contextual environment.

260 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Michael Lewyn]

A very dense book that compares Ibn Ezra with a variety of Jewish and non-jewish philosophers and exegetes. Although much of it was over my head, I got a general idea of Ibn Ezra's project. His general philosophy of Torah interpretation seems to have been based on balancing two big ideas: 1) the text means what it means, and rabbinic midrash (often-fanciful stories based on nuances in the text) are not literally true or binding but 2) principle 1 doesn't apply when it conflicts with Jewish law.

[Michael C.]

A very well organized and thorough survey of early exegetes alongside the biography of a monumental Sephardic philosopher.