Book cover of Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism

Book description

A collection of lectures on the features of the movement of mysticism that began in antiquity and continues in Hasidism today.

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Why read it?

1 author picked Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

From physical travel to the heavens to elaborate meditations on Hebrew letter permutations and terrifying dialogues with God: the richness of Jewish religious experience is narrated here with historical detail and psychological insight. Its final chapters which bring us close to our times are no less surprising: Scholem describes how the disillusionment with a prophetic figure who converts to Islam to save his own life sparked an atheist movement within Judaism. My favorite book on the psychology of religious experience, though written by a historian. 

From Miguel's list on religious experience.

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