Aquinas and Maimonides on the Possibility of the Knowledge of God: An Examination of the Quaestio de Attributis

Purpose Moses Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed is pervaded by a p- manent tension regarding the possibility and extent of the knowledge of God by a created intellect, which lies at the roots of the 13th century controversy over Maimonides’ writings. While Maimonides asserts that ＂its purpose is to give indications to a religious man for whom the validity of our Law has become 1 established in his soul and has become actual in his belief,＂ one of its early opponents, Meshullam ben Solomon, writes referring to him: ＂Those who deny the proper attributes of God speak out 2 until faith has been drained out of man.＂ He will instead claim to be ＂determined to know the God of my fathers and my 3 thoughts are continuously of Him＂. Meshullam understands that despite Maimonides’ interest in preserving his readers’ faith, he leads them to skepticism by denying the possibility of any positive knowledge of the essence of God.