Doctrine of the Divine Name Introduction to Classical Kabbalistic Theory (Brown Judaic Studies 149)

My primary goal in this study is to present the main elements of kabbalistic thought in a form which is both intelligible and authoritative. The study is built around texts, mostly deriving from the closing decades of the thirteenth century, the most crucial period in which kabbalistic thought first coalesced into a fairly coherent and unified intellectual tradition. The centerpiece of the exposition is a detailed analysis of the doctrine of the Divine Name as presented in the text titled The Secrets of the Letters of the Divine Name – one of the most complete, systematic, and authoritative presentations of the elements of kabbalistic theology to be found in classical kabbalistic literature.... The body of this work includes four parts: 1) a newly edited Aramaic text of The Secrets of the Letters in its entirety (placed at the very end for the use of the Judaica scholar), and 2) an annotated translation of the systematic section of the The Secrets of the Letters, lines 1-334, (approximately one half of the text) with critical notes. These two sections provide the necessary critical foundation for the conceptual analysis. The conceptual analysis, which is the heart of the book, is divided between the two remaining parts: 3) a presentation, preceding the translation, of the essential elements of the Doctrine of the Name in abstract, systematic form, and 4) a running commentary and paraphrase of the translation, which follows it, including references to those sections of the systematic presentation which are necessary for the proper understanding of any given passage. --- excerpts from book's Preface