Kabbalah

In this influential 1988 study, Moshe Idel proposes a phenomenological approach to Kabbalah that reassesses many assumptions inherited from Scholem's school. He distinguishes between theosophical-theurgical and ecstatic strands of the tradition, emphasizes continuities with earlier rabbinic and ancient Jewish sources, and gives sustained attention to mystical technique and experience. The book is a key text for understanding the methodological debates that have shaped Kabbalah scholarship since the late twentieth century.