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Guillaume Postel’s ‘Idea of the Zohar’
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Abstract
Following Boaz Huss’s coinage of an ‘Idea of the Zohar’, I focus in this paper on the ‘Idea of the Zohar’ held by the Kabbalistic Christian Guillaume Postel (1510–1581). Postel regarded the Zohar as an ultimate expression of his entire theological and messianic thought, and therefore he produced two Latin annotated translations of this treatise. Relying on a close analysis of the Incipit he attached to the earlier translation completed in early 1554 (BL ms. Slaone 1410, fol. 1r), I sketch Postel’s unique concepts regarding the Zohar, both as a text and as a divine essence, showing how his description of the Zohar’s provenance and circulation sheds light on his particular ‘Idea of the Zohar’.
Title: Guillaume Postel’s ‘Idea of the Zohar’
Description:
Abstract
Following Boaz Huss’s coinage of an ‘Idea of the Zohar’, I focus in this paper on the ‘Idea of the Zohar’ held by the Kabbalistic Christian Guillaume Postel (1510–1581).
Postel regarded the Zohar as an ultimate expression of his entire theological and messianic thought, and therefore he produced two Latin annotated translations of this treatise.
Relying on a close analysis of the Incipit he attached to the earlier translation completed in early 1554 (BL ms.
Slaone 1410, fol.
1r), I sketch Postel’s unique concepts regarding the Zohar, both as a text and as a divine essence, showing how his description of the Zohar’s provenance and circulation sheds light on his particular ‘Idea of the Zohar’.
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