Download or read book Origins of the Kabbalah written by Gershom Gerhard Scholem and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Origins of the Kabbalah written by Gershom Scholem and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most important scholars of our century, Gershom Scholem (1897-1982) opened up a once esoteric world of Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalah, to concerned students of religion. The Kabbalah is a rich tradition of repeated attempts to achieve and portray direct experiences of God: its twelfth-and thirteenth-century beginnings in southern France and Spain are probed in Origins of the Kabbalah, a work crucial in Scholem's oeuvre. The book is a contribution not only to the history of Jewish medieval mysticism but also to the study of medieval mysticism in general and will be of interest to historians and psychologists, as well as to students of the history of religion.
Download or read book The Origins of Jewish Mysticism written by Peter Schäfer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-24 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: '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.
Download or read book The Scandal of Kabbalah written by Yaacob Dweck and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-12-26 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the Jewish culture war over Kabbalah began The Scandal of Kabbalah is the first book about the origins of a culture war that began in early modern Europe and continues to this day: the debate between kabbalists and their critics on the nature of Judaism and the meaning of religious tradition. From its medieval beginnings as an esoteric form of Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah spread throughout the early modern world and became a central feature of Jewish life. Scholars have long studied the revolutionary impact of Kabbalah, but, as Yaacob Dweck argues, they have misunderstood the character and timing of opposition to it. Drawing on a range of previously unexamined sources, this book tells the story of the first criticism of Kabbalah, Ari Nohem, written by Leon Modena in Venice in 1639. In this scathing indictment of Venetian Jews who had embraced Kabbalah as an authentic form of ancient esotericism, Modena proved the recent origins of Kabbalah and sought to convince his readers to return to the spiritualized rationalism of Maimonides. The Scandal of Kabbalah examines the hallmarks of Jewish modernity displayed by Modena's attack—a critical analysis of sacred texts, skepticism about religious truths, and self-consciousness about the past—and shows how these qualities and the later history of his polemic challenge conventional understandings of the relationship between Kabbalah and modernity. Dweck argues that Kabbalah was the subject of critical inquiry in the very period it came to dominate Jewish life rather than centuries later as most scholars have thought.
Download or read book A Brief Guide to Judaism written by Naftali Brawer and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Jewish religion is one of the major faiths of the world yet one of the least understood. In a wide-ranging and accessible guide for the general reader Rabbi Naftali Brawer outlines the major themes and history of over 5,000 years of Jewish faith from its Abrahamic origins and the foundations of Jerusalem to the eras of exile, diaspora, and persecution. From ritual and practise to faith and politics, the theology and history of Judaism are bound together. Brawer argues that Judaism is poised between heaven and earth. On the one hand it calls on its adherents to transcend the material world through ritual and prayer: on the other hand Judaism positively celebrates joys of food, family and society. Through this seeming paradox, Brawer explores the nature and characteristics of faith - God and Man, Torah, Mitzvah, the Jewish People and the Land of Israel. He also shows how ritual and practise punctuate Jewish existence, from daily prayers to the rites of passage that chart a lifetime.
Download or read book Kabbalah written by Gershom Scholem and published by Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company. This book was released on 1974 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Kabbalah and the Founding of America written by Brian Ogren and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the influence of Kabbalah in shaping America’s religious identity In 1688, a leading Quaker thinker and activist in what is now New Jersey penned a letter to one of his closest disciples concerning Kabbalah, or what he called the mystical theology of the Jews. Around that same time, one of the leading Puritan ministers developed a messianic theology based in part on the mystical conversion of the Jews. This led to the actual conversion of a Jew in Boston a few decades later, an event that directly produced the first kabbalistic book conceived of and published in America. That book was read by an eventual president of Yale College, who went on to engage in a deep study of Kabbalah that would prod him to involve the likes of Benjamin Franklin, and to give a public oration at Yale in 1781 calling for an infusion of Kabbalah and Jewish thought into the Protestant colleges of America. Kabbalah and the Founding of America traces the influence of Kabbalah on early Christian Americans. It offers a new picture of Jewish-Christian intellectual exchange in pre-Revolutionary America, and illuminates how Kabbalah helped to shape early American religious sensibilities. The volume demonstrates that key figures, including the well-known Puritan ministers Cotton Mather and Increase Mather and Yale University President Ezra Stiles, developed theological ideas that were deeply influenced by Kabbalah. Some of them set out to create a more universal Kabbalah, developing their ideas during a crucial time of national myth building, laying down precedents for developing notions of American exceptionalism. This book illustrates how, through fascinating and often surprising events, this unlikely inter-religious influence helped shape the United States and American identity.
Download or read book Gershom Scholem written by David Biale and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1982 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through a lifetime of passionate scholarship, Gershom Scholem (1897-1982) uncovered the "domains of tradition hidden under the debris of centuries" and made the history of Jewish mysticism and messianism comprehensible and relevant to current Jewish thought. In this paperback edition of his definitive book on Scholem's work, David Biale has shortened and rearranged his study for the benefit of the general reader and the student. A new introduction and new passages in the main text highlight the pluralistic character of Jewish theology as seen by Scholem, the place of the Kabbalah in debates over Zionism versus assimilation, and the interpretation of Kafka as a Jewish writer.
Download or read book Heavenly Powers written by Neil Asher Silberman and published by Booksales. This book was released on 2001-03 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ancient Jewish spiritual tradition of Kabbalah is shown to be far more than an otherworldly, occult way of knowledge -- it is a direct, often revolutionary response to the tyranny of earthly potentates and kings.
Download or read book Zohar the Book of Enlightenment written by Daniel Chanan Matt and published by Paulist Press. This book was released on 1983 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Kabbalah written by Tamar Frankiel, PhD and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2011-07-11 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insightful exploration of Jewish mysticism—written especially for Christians. Kabbalah is well known as the foundation of the Jewish mystical tradition, but few are aware that Kabbalah’s spiritual applications extend beyond Jewish life. In this accessible, intelligent guide, Tamar Frankiel, PhD, a leading teacher of Jewish mysticism, demystifies the intricate world of Kabbalah. You will find that the teachings of Kabbalah are not only for Jewish scholars—anyone can incorporate this enduring wisdom into everyday life if they have an open mind and a willing heart. Unlike the faddish books that discuss Kabbalah as simply a “magical system,” this book discusses the evolution of Kabbalah from its origins in Judaism and gives Christian readers the vocabulary and tools to begin to understand this long-standing mystical tradition. It also explores the similarities and differences between Jewish and Christian mysticism, placing both in a larger and more comprehensive framework. Explore the kabbalistic Tree of Life to discover how God is expressed in the world around us. Examine your life and discover how it can be understood as part of an unfolding spiritual path. Travel through your personal and collective histories to find a more personal perspective on the principles of Kabbalah. ... and more
Download or read book The Pagan Eden written by Ian Freer and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-08 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first complete book about the Babylonian Kabbalah, which many people are talking about on the Internet. Assyria in Northern Iraq is the home of Palace Art from the Courts of the Assyrian Empire, where the Tree of Life was routinely shown on walls, tended by winged genies. It represented the King and the Land. It is also arguably a spiritual map and the basis of the Jewish Kabbalah, which was developed later. Many authors have asserted that the Kabbalah came from Egypt but this book shows that its early roots lie in Assyrian Court Art. There are also fascinating parallels to Asiatic Shamanism. All points to Asia, not Africa, as the home of the archetypal Sacred Tree image. ,
Download or read book Origins of the Kabbalah written by Gershom Scholem and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book A History of Kabbalah written by Jonathan Garb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-23 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers a narrative history of modern Kabbalah, from the sixteenth century to the present. Covering all sub-periods, schools, and figures, Jonathan Garb demonstrates how Kabbalah expanded over the last few centuries, and how it became an important player, first in the European, subsequently in global cultural and intellectual domains. Indeed, study of the Kabbalah can be found on virtually every continent and in many languages, despite of the destruction of many centres in the mid-twentieth century. Garb explores the sociological, psychological, scholastic and ritual dimensions of kabbalistic ways of life in their geographical and cultural contexts. Focusing on several important mystical and literary figures, he shows how modern Kabbalah is both deeply embedded in modern Jewish life, yet has become an independent, professionalized sub-world. He also traces how Kabbalah was influenced by, and contributed to the process of modernization.
Download or read book Kabbalah written by Moshe Idel and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1988-01-01 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this prizewinning new interpretation of Jewish mysticism, Moshe Idel emphasizes the need for a comparative and phenomenological approach to Kabbalah and its position in the history of religion. Idel provides fresh insights into the origins of Jewish mysticism, the relation between mystical and historical experience, and the impact of Jewish mysticism on western civilization. "Idel's book is studded with major insights, and innovative approaches to the entire history of Judaism, and mastery of it will be essential for all serious students of Jewish thought."--Arthur Green, New York Times Book Review "Moshe Idel's original, scholarly, and stimulating study of Kabbalah contains the promise of a masterwork."--Elie Wiesel "Moshe Idel's book can help the nonspecialized reader to reconsider the whole of Kabbalistic tradition in comparison with many aspects of contemporary thought."--Umberto Eco "There can be no dispute about the importance and originality of Idel's work. Offering a wealth of complementary insights to Gershom Scholem and his school, it will command a great deal of attention and serious discussion."--Alexander Altmann
Download or read book On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism written by Gershom Scholem and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 1996-01-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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
Download or read book Gershom Scholem and the Mystical Dimension of Jewish History written by Joseph Dan and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 1988-10 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation "An excellent overview of the history of Jewish mysticism from its early beginnings to contemporary Hasidism ... scholarly and complex."--Library Journal"An excellent work, clear and solidly documented by Joseph Dan on Gershom Scholem and on his work."--Notes Bibliographiques"An excellent guide to Scholem's work."--Christian Century.
