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Books by Dr. Drob’s books can be ordered from
Barnes and Noble and various other on-line booksellers. Kabbalah and Postmodernism: A Dialogue (Peter Lang, 2009). In
this volume Dr. Drob examines the convergence between Jewish mystical ideas
and the thought of Jacques Derrida, the founder of “deconstruction,”
and puts this convergence in the service of a theology that not only survives
the challenges of atheism, cultural relativism, and anti-foundationalism, but
welcomes and includes these ideas.
Kabbalah and
Postmodernism challenges certain long-held philosophical and
theological beliefs, including the assumptions that the insights of mystical
experience are unavailable to human reason and inexpressible in linguistic
terms, that the God of traditional theology either does or does not exist, that
“systematic theology” must provide a univocal account of God, man, and the
world, that “truth” is “absolute” and not continually subject to radical
revision, and that the truth of propositions in philosophy and theology excludes
the truth of their opposites and contradictions. Readers of Kabbalah and
Postmodernism will be exposed to a comprehensive mode of theological thought
that incorporates the very doubts that would otherwise lead one to challenge
the possibility of theology and religion, and which both preserves the riches of
the Jewish tradition and extends beyond Judaism to a non-dogmatic
universal philosophy and ethic. Kabbalah and Postmodernism provides a
philosophical interpretation of such Kabbalistic symbols as Ein-sof (the infinite absolute), Tzimtzum (divine contraction) and Shevirat ha-Kelim (the Breaking of the Vessels). Drawing upon
the symbols of the Lurianic Kabbalah, the doctrines of Chabad Hasidism, and
the thought of Derrida, Wittgenstein, and Hegel, the author explores the
ideas that divinity embodies infinite being, thought and discourse, that
“God” (Ein-sof)
is the “union of all opposites,” that “reality” is an
infinitely interpretable text, and that there is a “coincidence of
opposites” with respect to essential theological, philosophical and
psychological ideas. Dr. Drob argues that humanity must move from its
predilection for unilinear thought to bilinear and multi-linear thinking, and
that all forms of thought and being, including all systems of philosophy,
theology and psychology are inherently incomplete, subject to
“shattering” (Shevirat Hakelim)
and revision/emendation (Tikkun). Hardcover, 338 pp. Symbols of the Kabbalah:
Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives (Jason Aronson, 2000) provides
a philosophical and psychological interpretation of the theosophical Kabbalah.
It shows that the Kabbalah, particularly as it is expressed in the school of
Isaac Luria, provides a coherent and comprehensive account of the cosmos, and
humanity's role within it, that is intellectually, morally, and spiritually
significant for contemporary life. In this book, Dr. Sanford Drob articulates the philosophical and
psychological ideas that are implicit in such kabbalistic symbols as Ein-sof (the Infinite), Tzimtzum (Divine Contraction), Sefirot (Divine Archetypes), Shevirat ha-Kelim (Breaking of the
Vessels), and Tikkun ha-Olam
(the Restoration of the World). Dr. Drob shows how contemporary philosophy
and psychology enable us to gain insight into the theosophical Kabbalah, and
to understand the Kabbalah in a manner that is vitally relevant to
contemporary life and thought. It is the author's conviction that the theosophical Kabbalah provides
a symbolic matrix through which the "ultimate questions" regarding
God and the world, and the meaning of human existence, can be provided with
satisfactory solutions. Rather than being an antiquated mystical and
theosophical system, the Kabbalah provides us with a dynamic conception of
God, world, and humanity that encompasses all happening and all things, and
which enables us to understand even the daily activities of men and women as
vital to the redemption of the world. Symbols of
the Kabbalah is the first comprehensive interpretation
of the entirety of the theosophical Kabbalah from a contemporary
philosophical and psychological point of view, and the first effort to
articulate a comprehensive modern kabbalistic theology. Hardcover, 456 pp. Kabbalistic Metaphors:
Jewish Mystical Themes in Ancient and Modern Thought (Jason Aronson,
2000) places
the major symbols of the theosophical Kabbalah into a dialogue with several
systems of ancient and modern thought, including Indian philosophy,
Platonism, Gnosticism, and the works of Hegel, Freud, and Jung. The author
shows how the Kabbalah organizes a series of ancient ideas regarding God,
cosmos, and humanity into a basic metaphor that itself reappears in various
guises in much of modern philosophy and psychology. Recognition of the
parallels between the Kabbalah and modern philosophy and psychology provides
us with valuable insight into both the Kabbalah and modern thought, and helps
pave the way for a "new Kabbalah," one that is spiritually and
intellectually relevant to contemporary life. The author shows how the Kabbalah is unique in its position in the
history of Western thought, acting as a "switching station" in
which the biblical tradition, Near Eastern mysticism, and Western philosophy
converge. In the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria these traditions combine with
Luria's profound spiritual insight and intense mythical imagination to
produce a comprehensive philosophical and psychological vision of the nature
of God and humanity that was only imperfectly represented in the prior
traditions. Hardcover, 392 pp. Click here for REVIEWS of Dr. Drob's books on the New
Kabbalah. Dr. Drob’s books can be ordered from
Barnes and Noble and various other on-line booksellers. If you entered this site via a search engine, and there are no
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