The thought of Averroes (Ibn Rushd) was popular in Jewish circles in the Middle Ages, as can be seen by the number of translations made into Hebrew. Some of his books survive only in Hebrew. Not all of these readers could be called Averroists, but some certainly did adhere to what they took to be the central ideas of Averroes himself. Jewish Averroism often included some degree of allegiance to Maimonides, who also developed a complex theory of how to link religion and philosophy. The major Averroists were Isaac Albalag, Joseph ibn Caspi, Moshe Narboni, Elijah Delmedigo, and many other more minor figures extending throughout the South of France and Italy.

One of the main features of Jewish Averroism was its way of distinguishing between rational and religious truths. Proving that religion is true by using reason is a mistake because religion and reason involve entirely...