Mohammedan theologians. The latter contended, in particular, that the
biblical anthropomorphisms were destructive of a belief in the pure
spirituality of God. Hence Maimonides devoted much of his great treatise,
_Guide for the Perplexed_, to a philosophical allegorisation of the
human terms applied to God in the Hebrew Bible. In his Commentary on the
_Mishnah_ (Sanhedrin, Introduction to Chelek), Maimonides declares
'The roots of our law and its fundamental principles are thirteen.' These
are--(i) Belief in the existence of God, the Creator; (ii) belief in
the unity of God; (iii) belief in the incorporeality of God; (iv) belief
in the priority and eternity of God; (v) belief that to God and to God
alone worship must be offered; (vi) belief in prophecy; (vii) belief that
Moses was the greatest of all prophets; (viii) belief that the Law was
revealed from heaven; (ix) belief that the Law will never be abrogated,
and that no other Law will ever come from God; (x) belief that God knows
the works of men; (xi) belief in reward and punishment; (xii) belief in
the coming of the Messiah; (xiii) belief in the resurrection of the dead.'

Now here we have for the first time a set of beliefs which were a test of
Judaism. Maimonides leaves no doubt as to his meaning. For he concluded
by saying: 'When all these principles of faith are in the safe keeping
of a man, and his conviction of them is well established, he then enters
into the general body of Israel'; and, on the other hand: 'When, however,
a man breaks away from any one of these fundamental principles of belief,
then of him it is said that he has gone out of the general body of
Israel and he denies the root-truths of Judaism.' This formulation of
a dogmatic test was never confirmed by any body of Rabbis. No Jew was
ever excommunicated for declaring his dissent from these articles. No
Jew was ever called upon formally to express his assent to them. But, as
Professor Schechter justly writes: 'Among the Maimonists we may probably
include the great majority of Jews, who accepted the Thirteen Articles