La lecture maïmonidienne d’Isaïe: Contre les apocalypses

Abstract

This paper tries to decode the maimonidean’s reading of Isaiah, all around mainly the analysis of the chapter 29 of the second part of the Guide of the Perplexed, according to two points: the criticism of the popular beliefs concerning miracles and the end of the world, which he considers inextricably connected. The visible purpose of the author of the Guide, in this chapter, is to eradicate all these popular beliefs, the more disturbing as they seem to reach the houses of studies. But how eradicate what Maimonides judges to be false beliefs without putting in danger the principles of the Torah? How to maintain the faith in the creation of the world without supposing its end or its destruction? The specific question, in this article, will be revealing the structure of the studied chapter, what will allow us to understand the mode of banishment of these beliefs used by Maimonides.