Gershom Scholem: Kabbalah and Counter-History, Second Edition

by David Biale

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674363328
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1982
Edition description:	2nd ed
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

David Biale teaches in the Judaic Studies Program at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. From Berlin to Jerusalem

2. Mysticism

3. Myth

4. Messianism

5. The Politics of Historiography

6. Theology, Language, and History

Epilogue: Between Mysticism and Modernity

A Birthday Letter from Gershom Scholem to Zalman Schocken

Selected Bibliography

Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

[An] important and original book…the first attempt to confront Scholem’s stature as a contemporary theologian…erudite and admirably written.

New York Times Book Review

In this brilliant and insightful study of the man, his life and works, his contributions to the understanding of Judaism in this age of secularism and nationalism, of religion caught short of spiritual components, David Biale has illuminated some of the essential issues for both Jewish and non-Jewish readers.

Los Angeles Times - Robert Kirsch

An excellent and deeply interesting study… Biale’s intelligent and helpful book displays Scholem not as a dry-as-dust scholar, but as a thinker and even a poet whose vision of Judaism contains a split or ‘abyss’ that is only precariously healed.

Commentary

In this brilliant and insightful study of the man, his life and works, his contributions to the understanding of Judaism in this age of secularism and nationalism, of religion caught short of spiritual components, David Biale has illuminated some of the essential issues for both Jewish and non-Jewish readers.
— Robert Kirsch

Los Angeles Times