USD $275.00
Divine and Demonic in the Poetic Mythology of the Zohar
The "Other Side" of Kabbalah
Series: - IJS Studies in Judaica, Volume: 18
Author:
Nathaniel Berman’s
Divine and Demonic in the Poetic Mythology of the Zohar: The “Other Side” of Kabbalah offers a new approach to the central work of Jewish mysticism, the Sefer Ha-Zohar (“Book of Radiance”). Berman explicates the literary techniques through which the Zohar constructs a mythology of intricately related divine and demonic
personae. Drawing on classical and modern rhetorical paradigms, as well as psychoanalytical theories of the formation of subjectivity, Berman reinterprets the meaning of the Zohar’s divine and demonic
personae, exploring their shared origins and their ongoing antagonisms and intimacies. Finally, he shows how the Zoharic portrayal of the demonic, the “Other Side,” contributes to reflecting on alterity of all kinds.
Nathaniel Berman (JD, PhD) holds the Rahel Varnhagen Chair at Brown University, where he teaches in the Religious Studies Department. He has published extensively on law’s relationship to nationalism, colonialism and religion, as well as on Jewish mysticism.
Prefatory Note
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Poetic Mythology for a Broken World
I Otherness and Brokenness
II A (Very Short) Kabbalistic Primer
III Overview of the Book
IV A Final Introductory Note
1 Demonic Writing: The Rhetoric and Ontology of Ambivalence
I Demonic Fascination, Zoharic Writing and Zohar Scholarship
II Texual Proliferation and Stylistic Audacity
III The Rhetoric and Ontology of Ambivalence
2 A Divided Cosmos
I Introduction: Ontological Splitting, Rhetorical Parallelism and Tropic Doubling
II Modeling the Other Side: Geography, Essence, Structure
III Reading the Other Side: Paradoxical Textuality
IV The Rhetorical Construction of Splitting I: the Seductions of Schemes
V The Rhetorical Construction of Splitting II: The Ambivalence of Tropes
3 The Formation of Self and Other through Abjection and Crystallization
I Introduction
II The Origin of the Demonic: Theological Concern and Mythic Narrative
III “Dualism,” “Duality,” and the Proto-Divine
IV From Catharsis to Abjection
V Ambivalences of Origins
VI Divine and Demonic: A Family Affair
VII Ambivalences of Intimacy
VIII Ambivalences of Sustenance: “Suckling”
IX Epilogue: A Theurgical Parallel
4 Impersonating the Self, Collapsing into the Abyss: The Convergence of Horror and Redemption
I Impersonation: Aggressive Enclothing and Ethopoeia
II The Abyss
Conclusion: The Divine/Dunghill, or, the Self is the Other
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Poetic Mythology for a Broken World
I Otherness and Brokenness
II A (Very Short) Kabbalistic Primer
III Overview of the Book
IV A Final Introductory Note
1 Demonic Writing: The Rhetoric and Ontology of Ambivalence
I Demonic Fascination, Zoharic Writing and Zohar Scholarship
II Texual Proliferation and Stylistic Audacity
III The Rhetoric and Ontology of Ambivalence
2 A Divided Cosmos
I Introduction: Ontological Splitting, Rhetorical Parallelism and Tropic Doubling
II Modeling the Other Side: Geography, Essence, Structure
III Reading the Other Side: Paradoxical Textuality
IV The Rhetorical Construction of Splitting I: the Seductions of Schemes
V The Rhetorical Construction of Splitting II: The Ambivalence of Tropes
3 The Formation of Self and Other through Abjection and Crystallization
I Introduction
II The Origin of the Demonic: Theological Concern and Mythic Narrative
III “Dualism,” “Duality,” and the Proto-Divine
IV From Catharsis to Abjection
V Ambivalences of Origins
VI Divine and Demonic: A Family Affair
VII Ambivalences of Intimacy
VIII Ambivalences of Sustenance: “Suckling”
IX Epilogue: A Theurgical Parallel
4 Impersonating the Self, Collapsing into the Abyss: The Convergence of Horror and Redemption
I Impersonation: Aggressive Enclothing and Ethopoeia
II The Abyss
Conclusion: The Divine/Dunghill, or, the Self is the Other
Bibliography
Those interested in the Jewish mystical tradition generally (especially the Zohar), divine/demonic relations in mythology, religious-texts-as-literature, the relationship between rhetoric and ontology, and alterity in modern thought.