عنوان

Abraham Abulafijia's "Mystical" Reading of the Guide for the Perplexed

Number

LA122762

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Abraham Abulafijia's "Mystical" Reading of the Guide for the Perplexed

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Nathan Hofer

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

The Spanish kabbalist Abraham Abulafia (d. 1291) wrote three Hebrew commentaries on the Guide for the Perplexed of Moses Maimonides (d. 1204). Abulafia's third and final commentary, Sitrey Torah (The Mysteries of the Torah), is an uncovering and extended treatment of 36 "secrets" that he believed to be hidden within the text of the Guide. In this article I investigate the specificities of Abulafia's mystical hermeneutic as he applies it to the Guide and how this mystical system is made to fit with Maimonides' neoplatonic philosophy. I argue that Abulafia's commentary is not actually a mystical text in and of itself. Rather, he intends the mystical text to be generated within the mind of the reader, who is meant to join experientially the text of the Guide with Abulafia's commentary. The result is a paradoxical disclosure of secrets in which the linguistic mysteries must be disclosed discursively before they can become experiential mysteries to be disclosed mystically. Such a conception might offer scholars a new way of thinking about what constitutes a mystical text as well as problematizing the ways in which we categorize and analyze the "mystical." The Spanish kabbalist Abraham Abulafia (d. 1291) wrote three Hebrew commentaries on the Guide for the Perplexed of Moses Maimonides (d. 1204). Abulafia's third and final commentary, Sitrey Torah (The Mysteries of the Torah), is an uncovering and extended treatment of 36 "secrets" that he believed to be hidden within the text of the Guide. In this article I investigate the specificities of Abulafia's mystical hermeneutic as he applies it to the Guide and how this mystical system is made to fit with Maimonides' neoplatonic philosophy. I argue that Abulafia's commentary is not actually a mystical text in and of itself. Rather, he intends the mystical text to be generated within the mind of the reader, who is meant to join experientially the text of the Guide with Abulafia's commentary. The result is a paradoxical disclosure of secrets in which the linguistic mysteries must be disclosed discursively before they can become experiential mysteries to be disclosed mystically. Such a conception might offer scholars a new way of thinking about what constitutes a mystical text as well as problematizing the ways in which we categorize and analyze the "mystical."

Date of Publication

2013

Physical description

251-279

Title

Numen

Volume Number

60/2-3

International Standard Serial Number

1568-5276

Subject Term

Abraham Abulafijia

Subject Term

Kabbalah

Subject Term

Moses Maimonides

Subject Term

mysticism

Subject Term

philosophy

Nathan Hofer

Call Number

10.1163/15685276-12341265

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y