Ḥiwi al-Balkhī

Ḥiwi al-Balkhī, a 9th-century skeptical Jewish pamphleteer, scandalized the faithful by openly attacking the morality of Scripture and by issuing for schools an expurgated edition of the Bible that omitted “offensive” material (e.g., alleged stories of God acting dishonestly). A mystifying Hebrew tract titled Sefer…

…of the Persian Jewish heretic Ḥiwi al-Balkhī, which denied the omnipotence, omniscience, and justice of the biblical God and pointed to biblical inconsistencies, were then popular. In the face of such challenges, Saʿadia marshaled his great talents in the defense of religion in general and Jewish tradition in particular. Employing…