T.M. Rudavsky 
Time Matters 
Time, Creation, and Cosmology in Medieval Jewish Philosophy

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. TIME AND COSMOLOGY IN ATHENS AND JERUSALEM
Introduction
Biblical Conceptions of Time
Rabbinical Models of Time and Creation
Time, Order, and Creation in the Greek Philosophical Tradition
Ancient Greek Astronomy and Cosmology
Plotinus and the Neoplatonist Tradition
Conclusion

2. TIME, CREATION, AND COSMOLOGY
Introduction
Astronomy and Cosmology: The True Perplexity Revealed
Creation Models in Maimonides
Creation, Time, and the Instant in Gersonides
Creation, Time and Duration in Crescas
The Subjectivity of Time according to Albo
Scripture, Philosophy, and the First Instant of Creation
Conclusion

3. TIME, MOTION, AND THE INSTANT: JEWISH PHILOSOPHERS CONFRONT ZENO
Introduction
Traversing the Infinite: Zeno, Aristotle, and John Philoponus
Jewish Neoplatonic Considerations of Infinite Divisibility
Meeting the Kalam Challenge: Kalam Atomism Described
Rejection of Kalam Atomism: Saadia Gaon, Halevi, Ibn Daud, and Maimonides
Gersonides on the Continuum
Crescas on Infinity, Space, and the Vacuum
Conclusion

4. TEMPORALITY, HUMAN FREEDOM, AND DIVINE OMNISCIENCE
Introduction
The Problem Defined: Aristotle’s Sea-Flight Paradox
Astrological Determinism and Human Freedom
Compatibilism in Jewish Kalam: Saadia Gaon and Halevi
Maimoides’ Compatibilism
Incompatibilist Response of Ibn Daud
Omniscience and Human Freedom in Gersonides
Indeterminism and Prophecy
The Challenge of Determinism: Crescas on Divine Knowledge and Possibility
Conclusion

5. PRELUDE TO MODERNITY
Introduction
Newton and His Philosophical Precursors
Spinoza’s Metaphysical Monism
Time, Duration, and Creation: Spinoza and Descartes Compared
Substance, Infinity, and Divisibility in Spinoza
The Role layed by Imagination
Spinoza on Divine Omniscience and Human Freedom
Conclusion

CONCLUSION: ETERNITY A PARTE POST, INDIVIDUATION AND, IMMORTALITY

Notes

Index