14814

WiSe 16/17: Continuity and change in Kabbalah: themes, texts, and hermeneutical methods

Agata Paluch

Kommentar

The multiple meanings of the term ‘Kabbalah’, as well as other terms traditionally used to designate esoteric teachings in Judaism, shall be the main point of departure for the investigation of the selected Jewish mystical texts read during the term. We will look into hermeneutical strategies applied by Kabbalists both to assert religious authority, itself based on the continuity of textual tradition, and to produce innovative interpretations and create new systems of thought, all labelled by the term Kabbalah. We will pay special attention to personal authority and its social contexts in the transmission of kabbalistic teaching, the significance of charismatic figures vs. leading communal rabbis in shaping rituals and customs, the difference and interdependence of Kabbalah and magic, all while trying to understand the near-universal spread of Kabbalah in its manifold forms both among the intellectual elite and the Jewish masses up to the modern times. A selection of primary sources will be read against relevant secondary literature, critically engaging the participants with the main methodologies of Kabbalah scholarship (philological, phenomenological-historical, and new historical/new philological). Schließen

Literaturhinweise

Pinchas Giller, Kabbalah: A Guide for the Perplexed (London, 2011) – introductory reading Gershom Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism (New York, 1965 or later editions) [German original: Zur Kabbala und ihrer Symbolik (Zurich, 1960)] / Moshe Idel, Absorbing Perfections: Kabbalah and Interpretation (New Haven-London, 2002) Schließen

15 Termine

Zusätzliche Termine

Mo, 20.02.2017 12:00 - 14:00

Räume:
1.2002 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)

Regelmäßige Termine der Lehrveranstaltung

Mo, 10:00 - 12:00 15 Termine

Mo, 17.10.2016 10:00 - 12:00