Maimonides and the Goodness of the World
September 13, 2026
Moses Maimonides (also known as the Rambam) was a 12th century rabbi and scholar, most famous as the author of The Guide for the Perplexed. He thought that understanding the world through science and logic would lead you to knowledge, and that this in turn would lead you to love God. But is the world in fact something lovable? What do we do with all the pain and suffering? And is faith something you can prove using reason? Josh and guest co-host Yonah Schiller get good with Ross Brann from Cornell University, author of Moses Maimonides: A Very Short Introduction.
Part of a series supported by a grant from Common Era.
Guest
Ross Brann, Milton R. Konvitz Professor of Judeo-Islamic Studies, Cornell University
Related Resources
- Brann, Ross (2010). Power in the Portrayal Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- And Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain.
- Brann, Ross (2021). Iberian Moorings Al-Andalus, Sefarad, and the Tropes of Exceptionalism.
- Brann, Ross (2025). Moses Maimonides: A Very Short Introduction.
- Halbertal, Moshe (2013). Maimonides: Life and Thought.
- Maimonides, Moses (1963). The Guide of the Perplexed: Complete in One Volume.
- Maimonides, Moses (2024). The Guide to the Perplexed: A New Translation.
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