The Messianic Idea in Judaism: And Other Essays on Jewish Spirituality

(Paperback)

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Gershom Scholem earned international renown as a brilliant interpreter of esoteric religious texts as well as a trenchant contributor to many of the central intellectual debates of his day. At a time when apocalyptic impulses are intensifying with the approach of a millennial moment in the Christian calendar, we can only welcome Scholem's soberly presented and scrupulously researched account of their Jewish counterpart.

Reviews

"These major essays of historical synthesis provide a probing and challenging overview of Jewish history still pertinent to contemporary concerns."
Robert Alter

Gershom Scholem earned international renown as a brilliant interpreter of esoteric religious texts as well as a trenchant contributor to many of the central intellectual debates of his day. At a time when apocalyptic impulses are intensifying with the approach of a millennial moment in the Christian calendar, we can only welcome Scholems soberly presented and scrupulously researched account of their Jewish counterparts.
Martin Jay, University of California, Berkeley

Having had the privilege of knowing Gershom Scholem and having learned much from him, I am delighted to see this collection made available once more. I am especially fond of the essay on Revelation and Tradition, which is vintage Scholemlearned, sharp, witty, and adorned with delightful anecdotes from the Talmud. In juxtaposition with the essay that follows, on Wissenschaft des Judentums, it documents the subtle relationship between rational and nonrational elements in the Jewish tradition, the very relationship that Scholem both described so incisively and embodied so vividly.
Jaroslav Pelikan, Yale University

Author Bio

GERSHOM SCHOLEM was a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem until his death in 1982. Among his most important works are Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, The Messianic Idea in Judaism, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead, and editor of Zohar, the Book of Splendor Basic Readings from the Kabbalah.