Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism: Pillars, Lines, Ladders

by Moshe Idel

Overview

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 architectural images of the ascent, like the resort to images of pillars, lines, and ladders.
After surveying the variety of scholarly approaches to religion, the author also offers what he proposes as an eclectic approach, and a perspectivist one. The latter recommends to examine religious phenomena from a variety of perspectives. The author investigates the specific issue of the pillar in Jewish mysticism by comparing it to the archaic resort to pillars recurring in rural societies.
Given the fact that the ascent of the soul and pillars constituted the concerns of two main Romanian scholars of religion, Ioan P. Culianu and Mircea Eliade, Idel resorts to their views, and in the Concluding Remarks analyzes the emergence of Eliade's vision of Judaism on the basis of neglected sources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789637326035
Publisher:	Central European University Press
Publication date:	09/28/2005
Series:	Pasts Incorporated Ser. , #2
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.02(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Moshe Idel is historian and philosopher of Jewish mysticism. He is Emeritus Max Cooper Professor in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and Senior Researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute.

Table of Contents

Preface;

Introduction;

Chapter 1: On Diverse Forms of Living Ascent on High in Jewish Sources

Chapter 2: On Cosmic Pillars in Jewish Sources

Chapter 3: The Eschatological Pillar of the Souls in Zoharic Literature

Chapter 4: Psychanodia and Metamorphoses of Pillars in Eighteenth-Century Hasidism

Chapter 5: The Neoplatonic Path for Dead Souls: Medieval Philosophy, Kabbalah and Renaissance

Concluding Remarks

Name Index

Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

"His control of literature is impressive, and his proposal is suggestive. Throughout, Idel shows mastery of a very wide range of primary and secondary sources. Summing up: recommended."—Choice

From the Publisher