Moses Maimonides (11381204) supported a concept of the Messiah which was radically new within the Jewish tradition. The author of the present volume examines whether and to what extent this concept can be traced back to Early Medieval Islamic philosophy. She devotes particular attention to the religio-philosophical, philological, historical and political aspects of such an encounter. Starting from Islamic receptions of Plato's and Aristotle's thinking and from Karaitic theology, she undertakes a detailed analysis of the figure of the Messiah-King, of the notion of the world to come and of national and supra-national eschatology regarding the days of the Messiah.

Francesca Yardenit Albertini, Universität Potsdam.