Morton Smith and Gershom Scholem, correspondence 1945-1982 /
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The American historian of ancient religions, Morton Smith (1915-1991), studied with the great scholar of Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem (1897-1982), when he was in Jerusalem during the Second World War. After the war, the two started a long, fascinating and at times intense correspondence that ended only with Scholem's death. These letters, found in the Scholem archive in the National Library in Jerusalem, provide a rare perspective on the world and the approach of two leading historians of religion in the twentieth century. They also shed important new light upon Smith's discovery of a letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria referring to a secret Gospel of Mark.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [197]-200) and index. :
9789047433767 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Tamar Ross : constructing faith /
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Tamar Ross is Professor of Jewish Philosophy (Emerita) at Bar-Ilan University. She has written extensively on the Musar movement, the thought of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the ideology of Mitnagedism, and the relationship of Orthodoxy and feminism. Conversant with classical rabbinic sources and analytic philosophy, she champions the notion of cumulative revelation in pursuit of a non-foundationalist notion of truth, both religious and scientific. Responding to the feminist critique, she articulates an original and constructive Jewish theology sympathetic to the later stages of Wittgenstein's philosophy of language and to complementary motifs in Jewish mysticism. Her philosophy of halakha similarly builds on post-positivist legal theory, demonstrating the transformative influence of women's direct input on a legal system previously managed exclusively by men.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004317376 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Elliot R. Wolfson : poetic thinking /
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Elliot R. Wolfson is Professor of Religious Studies and the Marsha and Jay Glazer Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A scholar of Jewish mysticism and philosophy, he uses the textual sources of Judaism to examine universal philosophical topics such as the function and processes of the imagination, the paradoxes of temporality, and the mystery of poetic language. Working at the intersection of disciplines and refusing to reduce texts to their simple historical contexts, Wolfson puts texts spanning diverse temporal, cultural, and religious periods in creative counterpoint. His sensitivity to language reveals its fragility as it simultaneously points to the uncertainty of meaning. The result is a creative reading of both Judaism and philosophy that informs and is informed by poetic sensibility and philosophical hermeneutics.
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1 online resource (xv, 254 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004291058 :
2213-6010 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The serpent kills or the serpent gives life the kabbalist Abraham Abulafia's response to Christianity /
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Abraham Abulafia (1240 - c. 1291) founded an enormously influential branch of Jewish mysticism, referred to as the prophetic or ecstatic kabbalah. This book, from several perspectives, explores the impact of Christianity upon Abulafia. His copious writings evince an intense fascination with Christian themes, yet Abulafia's frequent diatribes against Jesus and Christianity reveal him to be deeply conflicted in his relationship to his southern European religious neighbors. This book undertakes a careful study of Abulafia's writings, suggesting that the recognition of an inner dynamic of attraction and revulsion toward the forbidden other provides a crucial key to understanding Abulafia's mystical hermeneutic and his meditative practice. It also demonstrates that Abulafia's uneasy relationship to Christianity shaped the very core of his mystical doctrine.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004194472 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The mystery of the earth : mysticism and Hasidism in the thought of Martin Buber /
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Challenging the prevalent view that in order to establish his "Dialogical" thought Martin Buber had to forsake his earlier "mystical" work, Israel Koren demonstrates instead that mystical paradigms serve as the foundation for Buber's dialogue and endow it with greater depth. While most scholars portray Buber's dialogical thought mainly in its Western and modern philosophical background, the author examines Buber's interpretation of Hasidic themes such as Devekut (attachment to God) among others, in order to establish that his dialogical writings evolved out of his interpretation of Judaism in general, his understanding of the Hasidic conception of the world and the mission of man in Hasidism in particular. Buber's work is therefore shown to be original mystical neo-Hasidic thought, which serves as a new link in the historical chain of Jewish mysticism.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [369]-386) and indexes. :
9789004181243 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism : Studies in Honor of Alexander Golitzin /
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The essays collected in Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism intend to honor Alexander Golitzin, a scholar known for his keen attention to the Jewish matrix of Eastern Orthodox spirituality. Following Golitzin's insights, this Festschrift explores influences of Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism on certain early and late Christian authors, including Irenaeus, Origen, Evagrius of Pontus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Symeon the New Theologian. Special attention is given to Jewish theophanic traditions regarding the beatific vision of the divine Glory (Kavod), which profoundly shaped Eastern Christian theology and liturgy. This volume demonstrates that recent developments in the study of apocalyptic literature, the Qumran Scrolls, Gnosticism, and later Jewish mysticism throw new and welcome light on the sources and continuities of Orthodox theology, liturgy, and spirituality
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Includes index. :
1 online resource. :
9789004429536
9789004429529
Arthur Green : Hasidism for tomorrow /
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Arthur Green is Rector of the post-denominational Rabbinical School and Irving Brudnick Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Religion at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts. Originally ordained as a Conservative rabbi, Green considers himself a neo-Hasidic Jew, identifying with none of the established Jewish denominations. He combines historical knowledge of the Jewish mystical tradition with an original constructive theology. Recognized as both a rabbi and a scholar, Green has sought to make spiritual pursuit an essential part of committed Jewish life. Through scholarship, educational work, and popular teaching, he has contributed to the growth and vitality of Judaism in America and helped promote neo-Hasidism as Jewish spirituality for the 21st century.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004308428 :
2213-6010 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The targumic toseftot to Ezekiel /
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This book focuses on the additional liturgical and alternative readings of Targum Ezekiel, the so-called Targumic Toseftot. The critical text, translation, and commentary are presented with special reference to the long segments of unique mystical lore that are preserved in the Targumic Toseftot to Ezekiel 1, the chapter which describes the prophet's vision of the celestial chariot. This unique manuscript material sheds light on a relatively dark chapter in the reception history of early Jewish mystical lore, being closely related to the Hekhalot literature, and to the Shi'ur Qomah tradition in particular. The volume concludes with a systematic treatment of the Targumic Toseftot to Ezekiel in relation to their Aramaic dialect, date and provenance, as well as their historical and social setting.
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This study represents a revised version of the author's doctoral dissertation submitted to University College London in 2008. :
1 online resource (xxiii, 235 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-223) and index. :
9789004229976 :
1570-1336 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Seek to see him : ascent and vision mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas /
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This monograph represents a critical juncture in Thomas studies since it dispels the belief that the Gospel of Thomas originates from gnostic traditions. Rather, Jewish mystical and Hermetic origins are proposed and examined. Following this analysis, the anthropogony and soteriology of Thomas are discussed. The Thomasites taught that they were the elect children of the Father, originating from the Light. The human, however, became unworthy of these luminous beginnings and was separated from the divine when Adam sinned. Now he must purify himself by leading an encratite lifestyle. He is to ascend into heaven, seeking a visio dei which will transform him into his original immortal state and grant him citizenship in the Kingdom.
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1 online resource (xiv, 211 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-199) and indexes. :
9789004313002 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jewish-Muslim relations in past and present : a kaleidoscopic view /
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This volume assembles multidisciplinary research on the Judaeo-Islamic tradition in medieval and modern contexts. The introduction discusses the nature of this tradition and proposes the more fluid and inclusive designation of "Jewish-Muslim Relations." Contributions highlight diverse aspects of Jewish-Muslim relations in medieval and modern contexts, including the academic study of Jewish history, the Qur'anic notion of the "upright community" referring to the "People of the Book," Jews in medieval fatwas, use of Arabic and Hebrew script, Jewish prayer in Christian Europe and the Islamic world, the permissibility of Arabic music in modern Jewish thought, Jewish and Muslim feminist exegesis, modern Sephardic and Morisco identity, popular Tunisian song, Jewish-Muslim relations in cinema and A.S. Yehuda's study of an 11th-century Jewish mystic.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004345737 :
2210-4720 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.