On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism

Author: Gershom Scholem
Publisher: Schocken
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Book Description
Gershom Scholem guides the reader through central themes in the intricate history of the Kabbalah. He clarifies the relations between mysticism and established religious authority; the mystics' interpretation of the Torah and their attempts to discover the hidden meaning underlying Scripture; the tension between the philosophical and the mystical concept of God; and the symbolism employed in mystical religion. He conveys his immense erudition with a lucidity that has earned him the admiration of the scholarly world and the appreciation of lay readers. --

On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism

Author: Gershom Scholem
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0805210512
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, Gershom Scholem guides the reader through the central themes in the intricate history of the Kabbalah, clarifying the relations between mysticism and established religious authority, the mystics' interpretation of the Torah and their attempts to discover the hidden meaning underlying Scripture, the tension between the philosophical and the mystical concepts of God, and the symbolism employed in mystical religion. With a new foreword by Bernard McGinn

Origins of the Kabbalah

Author: Gershom Gerhard Scholem
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691184305
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 511

Book Description
With the publication of The Origins of the Kabbalah in 1950, one of the most important scholars of our century brought the obscure world of Jewish mysticism to a wider audience for the first time. A crucial work in the oeuvre of Gershom Scholem, this book details the beginnings of the Kabbalah in twelfth- and thirteenth-century southern France and Spain, showing its rich tradition of repeated attempts to achieve and portray direct experiences of God. The Origins of the Kabbalah is a contribution not only to the history of Jewish medieval mysticism, but also to the study of medieval mysticism in general. Now with a new foreword by David Biale, this book remains essential reading for students of the history of religion.

The Universal Meaning of the Kabbalah

Author: Leo Schaya
Publisher: Sophia Perennis et Universalis
ISBN: 9781597310222
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
- God, the Universe and Man, their essential unity and fundamental attributes as seen through the eyes of the Jewish esoteric tradtion - Includes charts and diagramatic illustrations - To discover the deepest meaning of the Old testament is something that could have a most tonic and enlightening effect on the whole of Christian thought today; no clearer interpreters are to be found than the masters of the Kabbalah. - A reprint from Jacob Needleman's Penguin Metaphysical Library.

On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism

Author: Gershom Gerhard Scholem
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description

Kabbalah

Author: Gershom Scholem
Publisher: Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 510

Book Description

On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead

Author: Gershom Scholem
Publisher: Schocken
ISBN: 0307787028
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
"Scholem's treatment is complex and stylistically brilliant as he systemically analyzes the history and intellectual background of these critical ideas. Highly recommended."--Library Journal.

Zohar, the Book of Enlightenment

Author: Daniel Chanan Matt
Publisher: Paulist Press
ISBN: 9780809123872
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
This is the first translation with commentary of selections from The Zohar, the major text of the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. This work was written in 13th-century Spain by Moses de Leon, a Spanish scholar.

Circle in the Square

Author: Elliot R. Wolfson
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 143842437X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Book Description
This book deals with aspects of the gender imaging of God in a variety of medieval kabbalistic sources. It provides the key to understanding the phenomenological structures of mystical experience as well as the thematic correlation of esotericism and eroticism that is central to the kabbalah. The author examines the role of gender utilizing current feminist studies and cultural anthropology. He explores the themes of the feminization of the Torah, the correlation of circumcision and vision of God, the phallocentric understanding of divine creation as a process of inscription mythologized as an act of sexual self-gratification, and the phenomenon of gender-crossing in kabbalistic myth and ritual. Collectively, the studies explore in great depth the androcentric phallocentrism that is characteristic of medieval Jewish mysticism.

Absorbing Perfections

Author: Moshe Idel
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300135076
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 686

Book Description
In this wide-ranging discussion of Kabbalah—from the mystical trends of medieval Judaism to modern Hasidism—one of the world’s foremost scholars considers different visions of the nature of the sacred text and of the methods to interpret it. Moshe Idel takes as a starting point the fact that the postbiblical Jewish world lost its geographical center with the destruction of the temple and so was left with a textual center, the Holy Book. Idel argues that a text-oriented religion produced language-centered forms of mysticism. Against this background, the author demonstrates how various Jewish mystics amplified the content of the Scriptures so as to include everything: the world, or God, for example. Thus the text becomes a major realm for contemplation, and the interpretation of the text frequently becomes an encounter with the deepest realms of reality. Idel delineates the particular hermeneutics belonging to Jewish mysticism, investigates the progressive filling of the text with secrets and hidden levels of meaning, and considers in detail the various interpretive strategies needed to decodify the arcane dimensions of the text.