JWST 152 - Jewish Mysticism

Semester Offered: Second Semester
Full Course
Credits: 4 credits
Attribute: 4HU, CD, WINT

Mystical experience may transcend the bounds of traditional authority, and yet, from a historical perspective, those quests for divinity take place overwhelmingly within prescribed traditions. Such tensions between immediacy and mediation, infinity and form, transcendence and relation will be central themes of this course. Thus, as we delve into key sources of Jewish mysticism, we will consider how they interact with, and launch from, traditional texts and practices. But, paradoxically perhaps, this is how we will begin to uncover their most transcendent dimensions. Topics to be explored will include the multiple genders of God, rationalism versus mysticism, and erotic symbolism.

Enrollment Limit: 35
Instructor: S. Shonkoff

Cross List Information: Cross-listed with RELG 252.