'Mystical Spirituality' in Second Temple Period Judaism? Light from the Decorated Stone in the Magdala Synagogue

While “Merkavah mysticism” as a religious movement is a phenomenon of Late Ancient and Medieval Judaism, scholars have debated whether the origins of this movement are traceable to traditions of the divine Merkavah (chariot-throne) preserved in some early Jewish apocalyptic literature from the Secon...

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Главный автор: Cirafesi, Wally V. (Автор)
Формат: Электронный ресурс Статья
Язык:Английский
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Опубликовано: MDPI 2022
В: Religions
Год: 2022, Том: 13, Выпуск: 12
Другие ключевые слова:B Merkavah mysticism
B Magdala Stone
B Dead Sea Scrolls
B ancient synagogues
B early Jewish apocalypses
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Итог:While “Merkavah mysticism” as a religious movement is a phenomenon of Late Ancient and Medieval Judaism, scholars have debated whether the origins of this movement are traceable to traditions of the divine Merkavah (chariot-throne) preserved in some early Jewish apocalyptic literature from the Second Temple period. Furthermore, scholars have emphasized that these early Merkavah traditions reflect individualistic religious experiences that emerged historically in contexts of small esoteric groups of initiates who claimed a privileged experience and knowledge of the divine. In this article, I wish to do two things: (1) to establish methodologically the point that, from an analytical perspective, we can, indeed, speak of a kind of Jewish “mystical spirituality” present in the Second Temple period akin to later Jewish mystical traditions; and (2) to argue that, in light of some iconographic features on the decorated stone from the first-century synagogue at Magdala, early Jewish “mystical spirituality” was not a phenomenon restricted to the individual but could also involve an assembled community’s experience of divine presence.
ISSN:2077-1444
Второстепенные работы:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel13121218