Hekhalot Literature and the Origins of Jewish Mysticism
Rabbinic Texts and the History of Late-Roman Palestine January 13, 2011 DOI: 10.5871/bacad/9780197264744.003.0016 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that the origins of Jewish mysticism and Hekhalot literature are not confirmed to lie in Qumran literature, challenging the idea of an unbroken chain from Qumran to Hekhalot. Proposes that the category of mysticism is dubious due to scholars' tendency to insert unio mystica into ancient texts. |
Abstract
This chapter examines the origins of Jewish mysticism and the Hekhalot liteature. The findings do not confirm the trend in modern scholarship which locates the origins of Jewish mysticism in the Qumran literature and wishes to see an unbroken chain of distinctly mystical ideas leading from Qumran through rabbinic Judaism to the Hekhalot literature. The result also suggests that the category of mysticism has proved to be a dubious one mainly because of scholars' tendency to insert the notion of unio mystica into the ancient texts.