Open Secret - Postmessianic Messianism and the Mystical Revision of Menahem Mendel Schneerson

Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-231-14630-2
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 472 Seiten, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 794 g

Menahem Mendel Schneerson (1902;1994) was the seventh and seemingly last Rebbe of the Habad;Lubavitch dynasty. Marked by conflicting tendencies, the thinker was a radical messianic visionary who promoted a conservative political agenda, a reclusive contemplative who built a hasidic sect into an international movement, and a man dedicated to the exposition of mysteries who nevertheless harbored many secrets. Schneerson astutely masked views that might be deemed heterodox by the canons of orthodoxy while engineering a fundamentalist ideology that could subvert traditional gender hierarchy, the halakhic distinction between permissible and forbidden, and the social-anthropological division between Jew and Gentile. Elliot R. Wolfson concentrates on Schneerson's apocalyptic sensibility and promotion of a mystical consciousness that undermines all discrimination. Situating Habad thought within the evolution of kabbalistic mysticism, the history of Western philosophy, and Mahayana Buddhism, he articulates Schneerson's rich theology and profound philosophy, concentrating on the nature of apophatic embodiment, semiotic materiality, hypernomian transvaluation, nondifferentiated alterity, and atemporal temporality.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wolfson, Elliot R.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Christliche und christlich motivierte Bewegungen und Sekten
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Biographien & Autobiographien: Historisch, Politisch, Militärisch

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface Note on the Transliteration Introduction: Behind the Veil Unveiled 1. Concealing the Concealment: The Politics of the Esoteric 2. A/voiding Place: Apophatic Embodiment 3. Semiotic Transubstantiation of the Somatic 4. Messianic Torah: Hypernomian Transvaluation 5. Female Encircles Male: Gender Transposition 6. Apocalyptic Crossing: Beyond the (Non)Jewish Other Postface: In an Instant Advent of the (Non)event Notes Bibliography Index

Über Autor(innen)

Elliot R. Wolfson is the Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Jewish Research. He is the author of numerous essays and books, including Through a Speculum that Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, which was awarded the National Jewish Book Award for Scholarship and the AAR Award for Excellence in Historical Studies; Along the Path: Studies in Kabbalistic Myth, Symbolism, and Hermeneutics; Circle in the Square: Studies in the Use of Gender in Kabbalistic Symbolism; Abraham Abulafia-Kabbalist and Prophet: Hermeneutics, Theosophy, and Theurgy; Language, Eros, Being: Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination, which was awarded the National Jewish Book Award in Scholarship; Alef, Mem, Tau: Kabbalistic Musings on Time, Truth, and Death; Venturing Beyond Law and Morality in Kabbalistic Mysticism; and Luminal Darkness: Imaginal Gleanings From Zoharic Literature.