This paper tries to shed light on the value and limitations of the label ‘Christian Kabbalah’ for our knowledge of the historical phenomenon it describes. It works out how Christian scholars approached Kabbalah for a variety of reasons, be they instrumental, polemicizing or glorifying approaches, or for further motives. In addition, the article examines how the basic lines of the field of research around the Kabbalah in general were established and which impulses emanated from Gershom Scholem in particular. It concludes with an examination of Scholem’s religious philosophy with regard to his own research interest in the Kabbalah, which goes, in Scholem’s words, beyond historiography in some cases. Scholem described academic research on Kabbalah as ‘ironic’ and this irony affects his own ambivalent attitude towards the Christian Kabbalists of the Renaissance and the early modern epoch.

Saverio Campanini (2024). Gershom Scholem and Christian Kabbalah. A Reappraisal. ZUTOT, 20(2), 1-15 [10.1163/18750214-tat00002].

Gershom Scholem and Christian Kabbalah. A Reappraisal

Saverio Campanini
2024

Abstract

This paper tries to shed light on the value and limitations of the label ‘Christian Kabbalah’ for our knowledge of the historical phenomenon it describes. It works out how Christian scholars approached Kabbalah for a variety of reasons, be they instrumental, polemicizing or glorifying approaches, or for further motives. In addition, the article examines how the basic lines of the field of research around the Kabbalah in general were established and which impulses emanated from Gershom Scholem in particular. It concludes with an examination of Scholem’s religious philosophy with regard to his own research interest in the Kabbalah, which goes, in Scholem’s words, beyond historiography in some cases. Scholem described academic research on Kabbalah as ‘ironic’ and this irony affects his own ambivalent attitude towards the Christian Kabbalists of the Renaissance and the early modern epoch.
2024
Saverio Campanini (2024). Gershom Scholem and Christian Kabbalah. A Reappraisal. ZUTOT, 20(2), 1-15 [10.1163/18750214-tat00002].
Saverio Campanini
File in questo prodotto:
Eventuali allegati, non sono esposti

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/979195
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact