A CHARIOT FOR THE SHEKHINAH: Identity and the Ideal Life in Sixteenth-Century Kabbalah.
In this paper, I seek to present the range of issues involved in the efforts of sixteenth-century kabbalists to understand the nature of selfhood, and the paths prescribed for the formation of an ideal life. I reflect on the mystical writings of Moshe Cordovero, Eliyahu de Vidas, and ayyim Vital—pro...
| Published in: | Journal of Religious Ethics Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 385 - 419 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Sep2009
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=43609527&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 43609527 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 03849694 REH jtl: Journal of Religious Ethics issn: 03849694 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Sep2009 vid: 37 iid: 3 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 43609527 10.1111/j.1467-9795.2009.00392.x ppf: 385 ppct: 34 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 271KB tig: atl: A CHARIOT FOR THE SHEKHINAH: Identity and the Ideal Life in Sixteenth-Century Kabbalah. aug: au: Fishbane, Eitan P. affil: The Jewish Theological Seminary 3080 Broadway New York, NY 10027 212.678.8864 su: Presence of God Cordovero, Moshe De Vidas, Eliyahu Reincarnation Theology sug: subj: Presence of God Cordovero, Moshe De Vidas, Eliyahu Reincarnation Theology keyword: ethics identity mysticism reincarnation self soul ab: In this paper, I seek to present the range of issues involved in the efforts of sixteenth-century kabbalists to understand the nature of selfhood, and the paths prescribed for the formation of an ideal life. I reflect on the mystical writings of Moshe Cordovero, Eliyahu de Vidas, and ayyim Vital—probing their conceptions of core identity, the polarity between body and soul, and the ethical guidance for a life well lived. In so doing, I consider the following additional themes, and their relation to the matrix of self-formation and religious identity: reincarnation and rebirth; the virtue of humility and self-effacement; the cultivation of wisdom; ideals of piety and prophetic experience; asceticism; and the spiritual transcendence of desire. In presenting this wide range of constituent themes, I argue that sixteenth-century kabbalists understood the soul to be the ultimate marker of personal identity (nuanced and complicated by the doctrine of reincarnation), and that they formulated a vision of an ideal ethics in which the human being functions as an earthly vessel for the divine presence. What is more, the preparation of that vessel required a degree of humility so extreme that the attainment of ideal personhood ultimately involved the effacement of that very identity. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Religious Ethics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Religious Ethics holder: Wiley-Blackwell dt: @attributes: year: 2009 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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