Sefer HaIkkarim

Then divine revelation and the three secondary principles depending upon it, viz., God’s knowledge, prophecy, and the authenticity of the prophet’s mission.

Albo argues that the theologies of both Christianity and Islam misunderstand one of the "fundamentals" and thus reject one of the "derivative principles", making them false religions.

Albo's three principles agree with Simeon ben Joseph of Lunel (i.e. Duran), but disagree with Maimonides' thirteen and Crescas' six.

In the formulation of other articles of faith, the controversies to which the compilers had been exposed influenced both the selection of the specific principles to be accentuated, and the way that they were presented.

Similarly in the case of Joseph Albo, his selection was made with a view to correct the scheme of Maimonides in those points where it seemed to support the contentions of the Christian dogmatists and controversialists.

His emphasis upon the absolute incorporeality of God finds its true light only when the Christian doctrine of the incarnation is borne in mind.

But this very point, the Messianic dogma, had in turn soon become a source of anxiety to the Jews, forced to meet in public disputations the champions of the Church.

Before the time of Maimonides the question of the corporeality of the Messiah appears not to have been among the problems discussed in the polemics between the Church and the Jewish community.

But half a century after him, when his Messianic doctrine had been accepted as one of the essential articles of the faith, it was this point that was pushed into the foreground of the discussions.

Having participated in one of these public disputations, Albo must have become conscious of the embarrassment which the Maimonidean position could not but occasion to the defenders of Judaism.

Albo finds opportunity to criticize the opinions of his predecessors, yet he takes pains to avoid heresy hunting.

Albo states that neither Maimonides nor Crescas keeps in view his own fundamental criterion; namely, the absolute indispensability of a principle without which the trunk of the tree could not subsist; and on this score he rejects parts of their creeds.

There is an English translation of the book by Isaac Husik, published as a bilingual edition by the Jewish Publication Society in five volumes, 1946 (ASIN: B001EB9NWK).

A French translation with critical edition of the third chapter and commentaries was published by Philippe Bobichon: Yosef Albo, Sefer ha-‘Iqqarim [« Livre des Principes »], III, 25 : Un chapitre de la controverse judéo-chétienne dans l’Espagne du XVe siècle (texte hébreu traduction, commentaires), Madrid, CSIC, 2015 online This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds.