Albo, Joseph
rejected principally for this reason, that, if any one accepts the views of the Peripatetics, the world. would have been evolved by natural forer, and would, therefore, not be the work of a Creator ueting with liberty and intention ("Physics," viii. 1. chap. xiii. ; compare Morch," ii. 19, 21). Concerning the laws of a world already in existence, Aristotle committed the error of raising the question whether the world, and consequently these laws, he eternal or be simply evolved : a point explained more fully by a famous simile of Maimonides (Physics," viii. 1, clup. xiv. : compare "Morch." ii. 17). Albertus' attitude toward Maimonides doctrine. of prophecy was peculiar : he could searcely avoid being powerfully influenced by Maimonides ingenious exposition of this problem. Albertus' explantions concerning the difference between divination in the dream and vision, as well as his explanations of the fundamental diversities in the natural dispositions of men, by which also the varying capacity of different people for knowing the future and hidden things is necounted for ("De Divinatione," chap. iii. et seq.), are undoubtedly taken from the "Moreh Nebukim." But since, according to his distinction between natural and supernatural knowledge, prophery proper can not belong to the lumen naturale, he adopts the view of Maimonides for the explanation of natural prophecy only, as it occurred also in the pagan world. But, on the other land. Maimonides' profound and penetrative method of bringing neurer to our understanding the historical phenomenon of prophecy, and of representing many visions of the prophets as merely psychical phenomena-which Maimonides supported on passages of the Bibleappears to Albertus but a frivolous attempt to trace tack the opinions of the philosophers to the Bible Summa Theologie," xviii. 76 ; "De Cansis." v. 563). Of the writings of Albertus which did not escape the attention of Italian and Spanish Jews, sonic were translated into Hebrew at the beginning of the fourteenth century (Steinschneider," liebr. Uebers." pp. 277 et passim).
BIBLIOGRAPHY : M. Joël, Verhältniss Albert des Grossen zu Moses Maimonides (Jahresbericht des Jiddisch-Theolo gischen Seminars), Brestan, 183 ; I. Barck. Drs Albertus Magnus Verhältniss zur Erkenntnislehre der Griechen, Lateiner, Araher, und Jutien, Vienna, 1881 : J. Guttman, Die Philosophie des Salomon ibn Gabirol, Göttingen, 1889.
ALBINUS : Roman procurator of Judea from 61 to 64 (Jos. "Ant." xx. 9, § 1). While on his way from Alexandria to his new post he was met by a delegation of Jews, who demanded the punishment of the high priest Ananias. Albinus sent him a threat ening letter, and three months later deposed him. Albinns endeavored sincerely to restore peace in Jerusalem, and had many of the Sicarii executed. Some, however, he permitted to go free on payment of a ransom. In the dispute between Joshna (Jesus) hen Dannai and Joshua (Jesus) in Gamla concerning the office of high priest, Albinus sided with the former, who sent him presents every day. This description of Albinus by Josephus in the "Antiquitates" is, as Grätz (Gesch, d. Juden," 4th ed., iii. 445) remarks, much milder than that in the De Bello Judaico." according to which Albinis administered his office for worse than even his predecessor. Festus. There was no wickedness he would not commit. He robbed individuals of their property, and imposed oppressive taxes upon the people. On receipt of bribes, he liberated Roman decurions who had been imprisoned for deeds of violence. Even the revolutionary elements of the land were able to buy his friendship, so that their number constantly increased. Josephus (B. 1. ii. 14, § 1) does not scruple to call him the robber chief (ἀρχιλῃστής) and the tyrant of the wicked, Hegesippus (De Excidio Hierosolymitano," ii. 2) says of him that to the poor he was a tyrant and to the rich a slave. Zonaras, in his "Chronicle" (ed. Pinder, vi. 17) judges him more leniently.
Both Josephins and Hegesippus admit that, when compared with his successor, Gessins Florus, Albinus might be considered good, were it not that through his connivance with the robbers he sowed the seed of the subsequent rebellion. When a certain Jesus, son of Ananias (or Ananos), predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, he was brought before Albinus, who had him cruelly tortured : but when the procurator saw that the prophet would not recant, he allowed him to go free as a harmless madman (Josephus, "B. 3. vi. 5, $8 ; legesippus, v. 44), Lnccrius Albinus. who was appointed to the governorship by Nero and subsequently to that of Tingitana by Galba, and proviously by Nero to that of the province of Mauretania Cæsariensis (Tacitus." Historia," il. 58, 59), and who, together with his wife and intimate friends, was executed by order of Vitellius, is, according to all accounts, identical with Albinus.
S. Kr.
ALBO, JOSEPH : Spanish preacher and theologian of the fifteenth century ; known chiefly as the author of the work on the fundamentals of Judaism Ikkarim" (Principles). Little is known of the details of his life. Monrent, a town in Aragon, is generally assumed to have been his birthplace ; but this surmise rests upon doubtful evidence. Astruc, in his res port of the prolonged religious debate held at Turlosa in 1413-14, mentions Albo as one of the Jewish participants, and says that he was the delegate of the congregation of Monreal. But in the Latin ac count of the great verbal battle no reference is made to this locality : and there is, consequently, good ground for doubting the correctness of the assertion. Graetz believes that Albo could not have been less than thirty years of age when he was sent to take part in the disputation referred to, and he accordingly places the date of Albo's birth not later than 1380. It seems to be certain that he died in 1444, although some have been of the opinion that his death occurred in 1430. He is mentioned, however, as preaching at Soria in 1433.
The use Albo makes of medical illustrations ere. ates the presumption that he was an adept in medical science, which suggests that he may have practised medicine, thus emulating the excellent tradition of earlier Jewish writers on philosophical subjects. He shows himself also fairly well versed in the systems of Arabic Aristotelians, though his knowledge of their works was in all probability only second-hand and obtained through Hebrew translations. His teacher was Ḥasdai Crescas, the well-known author of a religio-speculative book, "Or Adonai." Whether (resens was still living when Alla published his "'Iḳḳarim" has been one of the disputed points. among the recent expounders of his philosophy. Albo's latest critic. Tinzer (1hie Religionsphilosophie des Joseph Albo," Presburg, 1896), clearly es tablishes the fact that the first part of the work must have been composed before the death of Albo's master.
The opinions of modern students of medieval Jewish philosophy are divided as to the intrinsic worth of Albe's expositions. Munk, while conceding that Iḳḳarim" marks an epoch in Jewish theology, is exceedingly careful to accentuate its lack of value as a philosophical production (see Munk, "Mélanges," p. 507). Graetz is still more pronounced in
