Ben: Sonship and Jewish Mysticism

Ben: Sonship and Jewish Mysticism PDF Author: Moshe Idel
Publisher: Continuum
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 742

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Book Description
This book constitutes the first attempt to address the category of Sonship in Jewish mystical literature as a whole a category much more vast than ever imagined. By this survey, not only can the mystical forms of Sonship in Judaism be better understood, but the concept of Sonship in religion in general can also be enriched>

Ben: Sonship and Jewish Mysticism

Ben: Sonship and Jewish Mysticism PDF Author: Moshe Idel
Publisher: Continuum
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 742

Get Book

Book Description
This book constitutes the first attempt to address the category of Sonship in Jewish mystical literature as a whole a category much more vast than ever imagined. By this survey, not only can the mystical forms of Sonship in Judaism be better understood, but the concept of Sonship in religion in general can also be enriched>

The Origins of Jewish Mysticism

The Origins of Jewish Mysticism PDF Author: Peter Schäfer
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691142157
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 415

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Book Description
'The Origins of Jewish Mysticism' offers an in-depth look at the history of Jewish mysticism from the book of Ezekiel to the Merkavah mysticism of late antiquity. The author reveals what these writings seek to tell us about the age-old human desire to get close to and communicate with God.

Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism

Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism PDF Author: Moshe Idel
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9789637326035
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Ascensions on high took many forms in Jewish mysticism and they permeated most of its history from its inception until Hasidism. The book surveys the various categories, with an emphasis on the archetectural images of the ascent, like the resort images of pillars, lines, and ladders.

Border Lines

Border Lines PDF Author: Daniel Boyarin
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812203844
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
The historical separation between Judaism and Christianity is often figured as a clearly defined break of a single entity into two separate religions. Following this model, there would have been one religion known as Judaism before the birth of Christ, which then took on a hybrid identity. Even before its subsequent division, certain beliefs and practices of this composite would have been identifiable as Christian or Jewish.In Border Lines, however, Daniel Boyarin makes a striking case for a very different way of thinking about the historical development that is the partition of Judaeo-Christianity. There were no characteristics or features that could be described as uniquely Jewish or Christian in late antiquity, Boyarin argues. Rather, Jesus-following Jews and Jews who did not follow Jesus lived on a cultural map in which beliefs, such as that in a second divine being, and practices, such as keeping kosher or maintaining the Sabbath, were widely and variably distributed. The ultimate distinctions between Judaism and Christianity were imposed from above by "border-makers," heresiologists anxious to construct a discrete identity for Christianity. By defining some beliefs and practices as Christian and others as Jewish or heretical, they moved ideas, behaviors, and people to one side or another of an artificial border—and, Boyarin significantly contends, invented the very notion of religion.

Absorbing Perfections

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

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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.

Rav Kook

Rav Kook PDF Author: Yehudah Mirsky
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300164246
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
DIV The life and thought of a forceful figure in Israel’s religious and political life /div

The Way of Splendor

The Way of Splendor PDF Author: Edward Hoffman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742552494
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Dr. Edward Hoffman, world-renowned thinker and writer in humanistic psychology, reveals how the Kabbalah exerted a profound influence on the establishment and growth of Western psychological thought. With a new introduction and updated bibliography, The Way of Splendor: The 25th Anniversary begins with an historical presentation of Kabalistic metaphysics and cosmology, then discusses the psychological dimensions of Kabbalah on such topics as dreams, meditation, sexuality, community, health and emotions.

The Jewish Mystical Tradition

The Jewish Mystical Tradition PDF Author: Ben Zion Bokser
Publisher: Jason Aronson
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
To find more information about Rowman & Littlefield titles please visit us at www.rowmanlittlefield.com.

Vocal Rites and Broken Theologies

Vocal Rites and Broken Theologies PDF Author: Moshe Idel
Publisher: Herder & Herder
ISBN: 9780824550257
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Vocal Rites and Broken Theologies deals with the central practices of the founder of Hasidism, Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov--known as the Besht--and its sources in the Safedian Kabbalah of Rabbi Moses Corovero. These include the loud pronunciation of the vocables during prayer, study of the Torah, and eventually profane speech, as conducive to some form of union with the divine. Many traditions in his name allow the reconstruction of the specific importance of these vocal rituals, including an architecture of the "Hebrew" sounds. From the historical point of view, Moshe Idel shows that some forms of Greek/Hellenistic magic reached the Muslim culture, and were translated into Hebrew in the 13th century, thus enriching Kabbalistic views, especially in Renaissance Kabbalah and in the Safedian Kabbalah of Cordovero and his many followers. They have been adopted in Hasidism by its founder, and were put in relief. Provided the linguistic nature of this practice, it was adapted by popular circles in the mid-18th century, which conjugated it with a variety of theological motifs stemming from different types of theologies, which have been adapted to the vocal practices. This less theological and more ritual linguistic practice is an explanation for the wide adoption of Hasidism by popular circles and its ensuing success.

Hasidism Incarnate

Hasidism Incarnate PDF Author: Shaul Magid
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804793468
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Hasidism Incarnate contends that much of modern Judaism in the West developed in reaction to Christianity and in defense of Judaism as a unique tradition. Ironically enough, this occurred even as modern Judaism increasingly dovetailed with Christianity with regard to its ethos, aesthetics, and attitude toward ritual and faith. Shaul Magid argues that the Hasidic movement in Eastern Europe constitutes an alternative "modernity," one that opens a new window on Jewish theological history. Unlike Judaism in German lands, Hasidism did not develop under a "Christian gaze" and had no need to be apologetic of its positions. Unburdened by an apologetic agenda (at least toward Christianity), it offered a particular reading of medieval Jewish Kabbalah filtered through a focus on the charismatic leader that resulted in a religious worldview that has much in common with Christianity. It is not that Hasidic masters knew about Christianity; rather, the basic tenets of Christianity remained present, albeit often in veiled form, in much kabbalistic teaching that Hasidism took up in its portrayal of the charismatic figure of the zaddik, whom it often described in supernatural terms.