Kabbalist Prior to the Expulsion from Spain in 1492
Kabbalist Prior to the Expulsion from Spain in 1492
JUS 435
Introduction
Rabbinic Judaism, a dynamic and evolving ethical monotheistic religious tradition, during the Middle Ages, would confront circumstances conducive to renewed encounters with Hellenism, but unlike Hellenistic Judaism it would not be a biblical Judaism face to face with a Hellenistic philosophy still embedded in a pagan matrix, rather Rabbinic Judaism facing a nonpaganized Greek philosophy.1 Rabbinic discourses about G-d’s attributes, divine providence and human freedom, the reason for the mitzvot (commandments), and the nature of the messianic age, would be reinterpreted in a rationalistic light to show natural science and religious revelation could coexist harmoniously.2 Kabbalist, prior to the expulsion from Spain in 1492, utilized a synthesis of dualistic Greek philosophy and classical Rabbinic Judaism to formulate a progressive conception, albeit mystical, of G-d, the structure of evil, and humanity’s, particularly the Jews, place and purpose in the universe.
Philosophical Influence
Judaism offers answers to such questions as the origin of the universe, the destiny of man, and the nature of right action; questions also posed by philosophy, which demands these ideas concern themselves with meticulous proof according to the requirements of reason.3 NeoPlatonism was particularly important in Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalah, although Medieval Jewish philosophers were heavily influenced by Aristotelianism through the writings of Muslim commentators and interpreters,4 Kabbalist could be said to owe more to Plato than to Aristotle.
Neo-Platonism is a monistic (reality as a unified whole) view of the world, which posits as the absolute cause of everything a pure spiritual principle, the One, the acme of perfection, that emanates from itself into lower levels of spiritual existence, with the other end of the spectrum of existence, the material world of change and decay.5 This
JUS 435
Introduction
Rabbinic Judaism, a dynamic and evolving ethical monotheistic religious tradition, during the Middle Ages, would confront circumstances conducive to renewed encounters with Hellenism, but unlike Hellenistic Judaism it would not be a biblical Judaism face to face with a Hellenistic philosophy still embedded in a pagan matrix, rather Rabbinic Judaism facing a nonpaganized Greek philosophy.1 Rabbinic discourses about G-d’s attributes, divine providence and human freedom, the reason for the mitzvot (commandments), and the nature of the messianic age, would be reinterpreted in a rationalistic light to show natural science and religious revelation could coexist harmoniously.2 Kabbalist, prior to the expulsion from Spain in 1492, utilized a synthesis of dualistic Greek philosophy and classical Rabbinic Judaism to formulate a progressive conception, albeit mystical, of G-d, the structure of evil, and humanity’s, particularly the Jews, place and purpose in the universe.
Philosophical Influence
Judaism offers answers to such questions as the origin of the universe, the destiny of man, and the nature of right action; questions also posed by philosophy, which demands these ideas concern themselves with meticulous proof according to the requirements of reason.3 NeoPlatonism was particularly important in Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalah, although Medieval Jewish philosophers were heavily influenced by Aristotelianism through the writings of Muslim commentators and interpreters,4 Kabbalist could be said to owe more to Plato than to Aristotle.
Neo-Platonism is a monistic (reality as a unified whole) view of the world, which posits as the absolute cause of everything a pure spiritual principle, the One, the acme of perfection, that emanates from itself into lower levels of spiritual existence, with the other end of the spectrum of existence, the material world of change and decay.5 This