Esotericism in Classical Rabbinic Culture

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" Esotericism in Classical Rabbinic Culture "
Joshua Ezra Burns

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1064698
Doc. No	:	LA108327
Call No	:	‭10.1163/15700593-01501005‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Joshua Ezra Burns
Title & Author	:	Esotericism in Classical Rabbinic Culture [Article]\ Joshua Ezra Burns
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Aries
Date	:	2015
Volume/ Issue Number	:	15/1
Page No	:	21–46
Abstract	:	This essay addresses the function of the Talmud and other classical rabbinic writings in the study of Western Esotericism. It begins with an overview of the Talmud with reference to other postbiblical Jewish texts occasionally cited by contemporary scholars as ostensible witnesses to the esoteric practices of the ancient rabbinic sages. Next, it asks whether these texts actually support such a thesis. Finally, it considers how the Talmudic sages were misunderstood to be esoteric exegetes by Christian Kabbalists, such as Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Johannes Reuchlin, so as to validate their respective pursuits of the prisca theologia, a revelation of pre-Christian divine secrets. The contribution thereby proposes a revised empirical basis upon which to assess the contributions of the Talmudic sages to discourse about Western esotericism. This essay addresses the function of the Talmud and other classical rabbinic writings in the study of Western Esotericism. It begins with an overview of the Talmud with reference to other postbiblical Jewish texts occasionally cited by contemporary scholars as ostensible witnesses to the esoteric practices of the ancient rabbinic sages. Next, it asks whether these texts actually support such a thesis. Finally, it considers how the Talmudic sages were misunderstood to be esoteric exegetes by Christian Kabbalists, such as Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Johannes Reuchlin, so as to validate their respective pursuits of the prisca theologia, a revelation of pre-Christian divine secrets. The contribution thereby proposes a revised empirical basis upon which to assess the contributions of the Talmudic sages to discourse about Western esotericism.
Descriptor	:	biblical interpretation
Descriptor	:	esotericism
Descriptor	:	Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Descriptor	:	Johannes Reuchlin
Descriptor	:	Judaism
Descriptor	:	Kabbalah
Descriptor	:	oral Torah
Descriptor	:	Rabbinic
Descriptor	:	Talmud
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/15700593-01501005‬