CRESCAS, I'Asdaj. - Jewish anti-Aristotelian philosopher, b. in Barcelona in 1340; d. in Saragossa in 1412. He enjoyed the favor of the court of Aragon, especially that of Juan I and the queen, who protected him during the persecution of the Jews in 1391, in which he lost his only son.
C. composed a vast anti-Christian work in Spanish, which survives in a partial Hebrew translation.
More important is the work 'Or 'Adhōnaj, "The Light of the Lord" (Ferrara 1556). In his writings C. attacks the Aristotelianism of contemporary Jewish philosophers, and particularly Maimonides and the Averroists.
BIBL.: N. A. Wolfson, C. Critique of Aristotle, Cambridge Mass. 1931 (with extensive introduction). Angelo Penna.