Maimonides' Thirteen Principles: The Last Word in Jewish Theology?

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 In the inaugural issue of the Torah u-Madda Journal, R. Yehuda Parnes argued that heresy is forbidden to be studied. This led him to condemn study in "areas that spark and arouse ideas which are antithetical to the tenets of our faith." Further developing his point, he left no doubt as to what he meant by "the tenets of our faith." "Torah u-Madda can only be viable if it imposes strict limits on freedom of inquiry in areas that may undermine the yod gimel 'ikkarei emunah." In other words, in his view, it is the "Thirteen Principles of Faith" of Maimonides that are determinative with regard to what constitutes heresy.

At first glance this may not appear to be at all controversial. After all, who better than Maimonides would be qualified to set forth the dogmas of Judaism? The immediate reaction of many Orthodox Jews would probably be the same as R. Parnes' in identifying heresy with anything that opposed any of the well known Maimonidean principles. Indeed, a recent author has written: "It should be stressed that all Torah scholars agree on the validity and significance of the Principles." Similarly, another one has written: "The fact is that Maimonides' Thirteen Principles are all derived from the Talmud and
the classic Jewish tradition, and were never in dispute. With reference to these statements, a comment by Gershom Scholem, made in a entirely different context, is relevant: "This seems to me an extraordinary example of how a judgment proclaimed with conviction as certainly true may nevertheless be entirely wrong in every detail." This is so, for even a cursory examination of Jewish literature shows that Maimonides' principles were never regarded as
the last word in Jewish theology. This despite the fact that Maimonides contended that anyone who even had a doubt about one his principles was a heretic worthy of death!