The Voices and the Veils (Introduction 2/3)
Before Christian scholars ever opened a kabbalistic manuscript, the tradition had already taken on dazzling new forms, from the literary mysticism of Catalonia to the ecstatic techniques of Abraham Abulafia and the poetic cosmos of the Zohar.
As the second part of a three-part introduction, this episode traces the emergence of medieval Kabbalah as a diverse and fully articulated tradition. From the speculative circles of Catalonia and Castile to the poetic theology of the Zohar and the ecstatic techniques of Abraham Abulafia, it explores the voices, texts, and practices that shaped its development. It presents the forms of Kabbalah that later Christian readers would encounter, interpret, and transform within their own intellectual and theological frameworks.
Credits
- Academic Research Article: Elke Morlok & Níels Páll Eggerz
- Podcast Adaptation & Narration: Níels Páll Eggerz & Elke Morlok
- Audio Editing & Post-Production: Gregor Meinecke & Mario Adam
- Music: Luigi Boccherini, Minuet, G.275 (arr. for harpsichord by Gregor Quendel)
- Source: Pixabay (Pixabay License)
Funding & Support
The History of Christian Kabbalah Podcast is a project of Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, project no. 497340432).
Further Reading
- Fishbane, Eitan P. The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
- Idel, Moshe. Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah. SUNY Series in Judaica. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988.
- Idel, Moshe. “Abraham Abulafia and the Emergence of Christian Kabbalah.” Zutot 22, no. 1 (2025): 15–37.
- Idel, Moshe. Abraham Abulafia’s Esotericism: Secrets and Doubts. Studies and Texts in Scepticism 4. Boston: De Gruyter, 2020.
- Matt, Daniel C., ed. Zohar, the Book of Enlightenment. The Classics of Western Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1983.
- Schmidt-Biggemann, Wilhelm. Geschichte der christlichen Kabbala. 4 vols. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 2012.
- Scholem, Gershom. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. 3rd ed. Westminster: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011, 156–243.
