Kabbalistic Metaphors: Jewish Mystical Themes in Ancient and Modern Thought.
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.
Introduction
Chapter I: The Basic Symbols and Doctrines of the Kabbalah
Chapter 2: Comparative Studies
Chapter 3: Jewish Mysticism and the Philosophies of India
Chapter 4: The Kabbalah and Platonism
Chapter 5: The Kabbalah and Gnosticism
Chapter 6: Hegel and the Kabbalah
Chapter 7: Freud and Jewish Mysticism
Chapter 8: Jung and the Kabbalah
References
Index
Review by Dr. F.J. Weissman, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Drob, Sanford, L. Kabbalistic Metaphors: Jewish Mystical Themes in Ancient and Modern Thought. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 2000. 367 p. $40.00 (ISBM 0-7-7657-6125-4).
Dr. Sanford L. Drob is a philosopher and psychologist engaged in a lively exposition of “new Kabbalah” that is, a reformulation of the classical trends of Jewish mysticism that aims at a fresh, updated dialogue incorporating contemporary ideas and concerns. Based upon a strong knowledge of the traditional texts and their major exegetes (such as Gershom Scholem, Moseh Idel, Arthur Green, and Eliott Wolfson), new kabbalah links those texts with modern and postmodern thought, allowing a fascinating comparative approach. Thus we are introduced to Indian philosophy, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism, as well as thinkers such as Hegel, Freud and Jung. Dr. Drob’s research stresses the central place of Lurianic kabbalah but also recognizes the uniqueness of classical kabbalah and its deep interplay with systems of thought as complex as the Indian, Gnostic, and Platonic. Dr. Drob, a trained psychologist with a solid philosophical background, is well versed in the rich intricacies of Jewish mysticism and therefore highly qualified to present this text on the new kabbalah.