In this fifth instalment of his Jewish Philosophy lecture series, David explores two significant Jewish thinkers living in Spain in the 14th and 15th centuries:

- Hasdai Crescas
- Yosef Albo.

He examines the philosophical contributions of Hasdai Crescas, including his ideas on:

- Divine knowledge replaced by Divine love
- Divine omniscience, providence, and omnipotence
- Prophecy
- Free Will
- The purpose of the world and the happiness of the soul.

Crescas, who was known for his critique of Aristotle, had revolutionary ideas that would pave the way towards a new humanism.

David then discusses Yosef Albo, a student of Hasdai Crescas, and Albo's ideas on:

- The existence of God
- Revelation
- Reward and punishment.

Albo recognised true faith through a series of derivatives (shorashim), known as:

- Unity
- Incorporeality
- Eternality
- Perfection
- God’s interested omniscience
- Revelation through prophets
- The authenticity of the prophets
- Individual providence.

His ideas led to a systematic theological restatement of Jewish belief on the eve of a new philosophical era.

With late Medieval Spain as the historical setting for both of these extraordinary figures, David provides their fascinating but fraught historical backgrounds, including the impact of the 1391 massacres in Barcelona on Crescas and the disputations at Tortossa for Albo.

This fifth talk in David's eight-part series, A Journey Through Jewish Philosophy, was delivered on Zoom for Caulfield Shule in 2020. Other episodes can be found here:

Part One: https://youtu.be/byBHtiI7B0I
Part Two: https://youtu.be/PP7Bap8wm9o
Part Three: https://youtu.be/mTpmfoogge4
Part Four: https://youtu.be/V7RHs2u1V4g
Part Five: https://youtu.be/uZ0C8w28boc
Part Six: https://youtu.be/IC_bZTM55yA
Part Seven: https://youtu.be/4n5mShm2O5k
Part Eight: https://youtu.be/FQwN1_NKPOY

For a historical overview of the period, watch David's series 'Hope in Darkness: Jewish History of the 14th & 15th centuries' go to https://youtu.be/O6oGjEUSNDA

David is also renowned for his Jewish history lecture, The Whole of Jewish History in One Hour https://youtu.be/GUlM2a2tsOM​

Find more of David Solomon's podcast, with dozens of lectures on Jewish history, the Bible, Jewish philosophy, and Kabbalah at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPZc8ZC7r568Er1pwL8ZiLbU1tV6PFf4L

Learn more at davidsolomon.online

Images used in this video -

The image of David above and those used in the video opening are by Stephan Rohl and available for use under CC licensing http://www.stephan-roehl.de​​

Large image by David Solomon - all rights reserved.