The Maimonidean Controversy and the Burning of the Guide

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the spread of Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed and his rationalist philosophy provoked an intense controversy within Judaism. Advocates of philosophical study and defenders of a more traditional faith clashed, with excommunications and, according to some sources, book burnings. This conflict raises the question of the relationship between reason, faith, and authority in Jewish thought.