From Metaphysics to Midrash : Myth, History, and the Interpretation of Scripture in Lurianic Kabbala

Magid, Shaul

ISBN 10: 0253350883 / ISBN 13: 9780253350886

Published by Indiana University Press, 2008

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 5512161-n

Bibliographic Details

• Title: From Metaphysics to Midrash : Myth, History, and the Interpretation of Scripture in Lurianic Kabbala
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0253350883
• ISBN 13: 9780253350886
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

In From Metaphysics to Midrash, Shaul Magid explores the exegetical tradition of Isaac Luria and his followers within the historical context in 16th-century Safed, a unique community that brought practitioners of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into close contact with one another. Luria's scripture became a theater in which kabbalists redrew boundaries of difference in areas of ethnicity, gender, and the human relation to the divine. Magid investigates how cultural influences altered scriptural exegesis of Lurianic Kabbala in its philosophical, hermeneutical, and historical perspectives. He suggests that Luria and his followers were far from cloistered. They used their considerable skills to weigh in on important matters of the day, offering, at times, some surprising solutions to perennial theological problems.

About the Author

Shaul Magid is Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor in Religious Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington.