Maimonides’s So-Called Cosmogony—Prophetology Puzzle: A Short History of a Pseudo-Problem

Several scholars have taken seriously the suggestion, first made in 15th century Spain, that Maimonides indended to match up the views on prophecy with those of creation in the Guide of the Perplexed. My talk will discuss the history of the "cosmogony-prophetology puzzle," argue that it is a pseudo-problem, consider the motives and exegetical methods of those Jewish thinkers who first invented it. and draw from the story a lesson of how academic scholars should go about reading the Guide.