In this Book
- Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism: Pillars, Lines, Ladders
- Book
- 2005
- Published by: Central European University Press
summary
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.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page
- p. 4
- Copyright Page
- p. 5
- Table of Contents
- pp. v-viii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-22
- 2. On Cosmic Pillars in Jewish Sources
- pp. 73-100
- Concluding Remarks
- pp. 205-238
- Name Index
- pp. 239-242
- Subject Index
- pp. 243-249
- Back Cover
- p. 261
Additional Information
ISBN
9786155053788
Related ISBN(s)
9789637326028, 9789637326035
MARC Record
OCLC
57580544
Pages
260
Launched on MUSE
2014-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No