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Christian Kabbalah arose during the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
due to Christian scholars' interest in the
mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
of Jewish Kabbalah, which they interpreted according to Christian theology. It is often transliterated as Cabala (also ''Cabbala'') to distinguish it from the Jewish form and from
Hermetic Qabalah Hermetic Qabalah () is a Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Golden Dawn, Thelemic orders, mystical-religious societies such as the B ...
.


Background

The movement was influenced by a desire to interpret aspects of Christianity even more mystically than current Christian mystics. Greek Neoplatonic documents came into Europe from
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
in the reign of
Mehmet II Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...
.
Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...
had been prevalent in Christian Europe and had entered into
Scholasticism Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translat ...
since the translation of Greek and Hebrew texts in Spain in the 13th century. The Renaissance trend was a relatively short-lived phenomenon, ending by 1750. Christian scholars interpreted Kabbalistic ideas from "a distinctly Christian perspective, linking Jesus Christ, His atonement, and His resurrection to the Ten
Sefirot Sefirot (; he, סְפִירוֹת, translit=Səfīrōt, Tiberian: '), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof ( The Infinite) reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm ...
"the upper three Sephirot to the
hypostases Hypostasis, hypostatic, or hypostatization (hypostatisation; from the Ancient Greek , "under state") may refer to: * Hypostasis (philosophy and religion), the essence or underlying reality ** Hypostasis (linguistics), personification of entities ...
of the
Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...
and the other seven "to the lower or earthly world". Alternatively, they "would make
Kether Keter ( he-a, כֶּתֶר, Keter.ogg, link=yes, ''Keṯer'', lit. "crown") also known as Kether, is the topmost of the sephirot of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah. Since its meaning is "crown", it is interpreted as both the "topmost" of the Sep ...
the Creator (or the Spirit),
Hokhmah ''Chokmah'' ( Hebrew: חָכְמָה ) is the Biblical Hebrew word rendered as "wisdom" in English Bible versions ( LXX ''sophia'', Vulgate ').''Strong's Concordance'H2451 "from H2449 ָכַם ''chakam'' "wise" wisdom (in a good sense):—ski ...
the
Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
, and Binahthe supernal mother Mary", which placed her "on a divine level with God, something the orthodox churches have always refused to do". Christian Kabbalists sought to transform Kabbalah into "a dogmatic weapon to turn back against the Jews to compel their conversionstarting with Ramon Llull", whom Harvey J. Hames called "the first Christian to acknowledge and appreciate ''kabbalah'' as a tool of conversion", though Llull was not a Kabbalist himself nor versed in Kabbalah.Don Karr
''The Study of Christian Cabala in English''
(pdf), p. 1, accessed on 28 March 2013.
Later Christian Kabbalah is mostly based on Pico della Mirandola, Johann Reuchlin and Paolo Riccio. After the 18th century, Kabbalah became blended with European occultism, some of which had a religious basis; but the main interest in Christian Kabbalah was by then dead. A few attempts have been made to revive it in recent decades, particularly regarding the Neoplatonism of the first two chapters of the ''
Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
'', but it has not entered into mainstream Christianity.


Medieval precursors


Raymond Llull

The Franciscan friar Ramon Llull (c. 1232-1316) was "the first Christian to acknowledge and appreciate ''kabbalah'' as a tool of conversion", although he was "not a Kabbalist, nor was he versed in any particular Kabbalistic approach". Not interested in the possibilities of scholarly Jewish influence, which began later in the Renaissance, his reading of new interpretations of Kabbalah was solely for the sake of theological debate with religious Jews; i.e., missionizing.


Spanish conversos

An early expression of Christian Kabbalah was among the Spanish
conversos A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian ...
from Judaism, from the late 13th century to the
Expulsion from Spain Expulsion from Spain may refer to: *Expulsion of Jews from Spain (1492 in Aragon and Castile, 1497–98 in Navarre) *Expulsion of the Moriscos (1609–1614) See also *Forced conversions of Muslims in Spain The forced conversions of Muslims in ...
of 1492. These include
Abner of Burgos Abner of Burgos (c. 1270 – c. 1347, or a little later) was a Jewish philosopher, a convert to Christianity and polemical writer against his former religion. Known after his conversion as Alfonso of Valladolid. Life As a student he acquired a ce ...
and Pablo de Heredia. Heredia's ''Epistle of Secrets'' is "the first recognizable work of Christian Kabbalah", and was quoted by
Pietro Galatino Pietro Colonna Galatino (1460 – 1540), also known as Petrus Galatinus, was an Italian Friar Minor, philosopher, theologian and Orientalist. Galatino was born at Galatina, in Apulia. He received the habit as early as 1480, studied Oriental la ...
who influenced
Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to ...
. However, Heredia's Kabbalah consists of quotes from non-existent Kabbalistic works, and distorted or fake quotes from real Kabbalistic sources.Don Karr
''The Study of Christian Cabala in English''
(pdf), p. 2f, accessed on 28 March 2013.


Christian Kabbalists


Pico della Mirandola

Among the first to promote aspects of Kabbalah beyond exclusively Jewish circles was
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (24 February 1463 – 17 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, ...
(1463–1494) a student of
Marsilio Ficino Marsilio Ficino (; Latin name: ; 19 October 1433 – 1 October 1499) was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. He was an astrologer, a reviver ...
at his Florentine Academy. His syncretic world-view combined
Platonism Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western thought. Platonism at ...
, Neoplatonism,
Aristotelianism Aristotelianism ( ) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by deductive logic and an analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics. It covers the treatment of the soci ...
,
Hermeticism Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical system that is primarily based on the purported teachings of Hermes Trismegistus (a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth). These teachings are containe ...
and Kabbalah. Mirandola's work on Kabbalah was further developed by
Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to ...
(1602–1680), a Jesuit priest, Hermeticist and
polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
; in 1652, Kircher wrote on the subject in ''Oedipus Aegyptiacus''.


Johann Reuchlin

Johann Reuchlin, a Catholic humanist (1455–1522), was "Pico's most important follower".Don Karr
''The Study of Christian Cabala in English''
(pdf), p. 6, accessed on 28 March 2013.
His main sources for Kabbalah were Menahem Recanati (''Commentary on the Torah'', ''Commentary on the Daily Prayers'') and Joseph Gikatilla (''Sha'are Orah'', ''Ginnat 'Egoz'').Don Karr
''The Study of Christian Cabala in English''
(pdf), p. 16, accessed on 28 March 2013.
Reuchlin argued that human history divides into three periods: a natural period in which God revealed Himself as Shaddai (שדי), the period of the Torah in which God "revealed Himself to Moses through the four-lettered name of the
Tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are '' yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', an ...
" (יהוה), and the period of Christian spiritual rule of the earth which is known in Christianity as "the redemption." It was asserted that the five-letter name associated with this period is an altered version of the tetragrammaton with the additional letter shin (ש).Walter Martin, Jill Martin Rische, Kurt van Gorden
''The Kingdom of the Occult''
Nashville: Thomas Nelson 2008, p. 149, accessed on 28 March 2013.
This name,
Yahshuah The pentagrammaton ( el, πενταγράμματον) or Yahshuah ( he, יהשוה) is an allegorical form of the Hebrew name of Jesus, constructed from the original form of Jesus to be Yeshua, a Hebrew Bible form of Joshua. Originally found in ...
(יהשוה for 'Jesus'), is also known as the pentagrammaton. It is an attempt by Christian theologians to read the name of the Christian deity into The unpronounced name of the Jewish God. The first of Reuchlin's two books on Kabbalah, ''De verbo mirifico'', "speaks of the name of Jesus derived from the tetragrammaton". His second book, ''De arte cabalistica'', is "a broader, more informed excursion into various kabbalistic concerns".Don Karr
''The Study of Christian Cabala in English''
(pdf), p. 17, accessed on 28 March 2013.


Francesco Giorgi

Francesco Giorgi, (1467–1540) was a Venetian
Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
friar and "has been considered a central figure in sixteenth-century Christian Kabbalah both by his contemporaries and by modern scholars". According to Giulio Busi, he was the most important Christian Kabbalist second to its founder Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. His, ''De harmonia mundi'', was "a massive and curious book, all Hermetic, Platonic, Cabalistic, and Pinchian".Don Karr
''The Study of Christian Cabala in English''
(pdf), p. 19, accessed on 28 March 2013.


Paolo Riccio

Paolo Riccio (1506–1541) "unified the scattered dogmas of the Christian Cabala into an internally consistent system", based on Pico and Reuchlin and adding "to them through an original synthesis of kabbalistic and Christian sources".Don Karr
''The Study of Christian Cabala in English''
(pdf), p. 23, accessed on 28 March 2013.


Balthasar Walther

Balthasar Walther, (1558 – before 1630), was a
Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is spli ...
n physician. In 1598-1599, Walther undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to learn about the intricacies of the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism from groups in
Safed Safed (known in Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevat ...
and elsewhere, including amongst the followers of
Isaac Luria Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi (1534 Fine 2003, p24/ref> – July 25, 1572) ( he, יִצְחָק בן שלמה לוּרְיָא אשכנזי ''Yitzhak Ben Sh'lomo Lurya Ashkenazi''), commonly known in Jewish religious circles as "Ha'ARI" (mea ...
. However, he did not follow the teachings of these Jewish authorities but later used his learning to further Christian theological pursuits. Despite his claim to have spent six years in these travels, it appears that he only made several shorter trips. Walther himself did not author any significant works of Christian Kabbalah but maintained a voluminous manuscript collection of magical and kabbalistic works. His significance for the history of Christian Kabbalah is that his ideas and doctrines exercised a profound influence on the works of the German theosopher,
Jakob Böhme Jakob Böhme (; ; 24 April 1575 – 17 November 1624) was a German philosopher, Christian mystic, and Lutheran Protestant theologian. He was considered an original thinker by many of his contemporaries within the Lutheran tradition, and his firs ...
, in particular Böhme's '' Forty Questions on the Soul'' (c.1621).


Athanasius Kircher

The following century produced Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit priest, scholar and polymath. He wrote extensively on the subject in 1652, bringing further elements such as Orphism and
Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egypti ...
to the mix in his work, ''Oedipus Aegyptiacus''. It was illustrated by Kircher's adaptation of the ''
Tree of Life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A Histo ...
''. Kircher's version of the Tree of Life is still used in Western Kabbalah.


Sir Thomas Browne

The physician-philosopher
Sir Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne (; 19 October 1605 – 19 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. His writings display a ...
(1605–82) is recognised as one of the few 17th century English scholars of the Kabbalah. Browne read Hebrew, owned a copy of Francesco Giorgio's highly influential work of Christian Kabbalah ''De harmonia mundi totius'' (1525), and alluded to the Kabbalah in his discourse
The Garden of Cyrus ''The Garden of Cyrus'', or ''The Quincuncial Lozenge, or Network Plantations of the Ancients, naturally, artificially, mystically considered'', is a discourse by Sir Thomas Browne. First published in 1658, along with its diptych companion '' Ur ...
and encyclopaedia
Pseudodoxia Epidemica ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica or Enquiries into very many received tenents and commonly presumed truths'', also known simply as ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'' or ''Vulgar Errors'', is a work by Thomas Browne challenging and refuting the "vulgar" or common ...
which was translated into German by the Hebrew scholar and promoter of the Kabbalah, Christian Knorr von Rosenroth.


Christian Knorr von Rosenroth

Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, (1636–1689), became well known as a translator, annotator, and editor of Kabbalistic texts; he published the two-volume ''Kabbala denudata'' ('Kabbalah Unveiled' 1677–78), "which virtually alone represented authentic (Jewish) ''kabbalah'' to Christian Europe until the mid-nineteenth century". The ''Kabbala denudata'' contains Latin translations of, among others, sections of the ''
Zohar The ''Zohar'' ( he, , ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five ...
'', ''Pardes Rimmonim'' by
Moses Cordovero Moses Cordovero was a physician who lived at Leghorn (Livorno), Tuscany in the seventeenth century. David Conforte David Conforte (c. 1618 – c. 1685) () was a Hebrew literary historian born in Salonica, author of the literary chronicle know ...
, ''Sha’ar ha-Shamayim'' and ''Beit Elohim'' by Abraham Cohen de Herrera, ''Sefer ha-Gilgulim'' (a Lurianic tract attributed to
Hayyim Vital Hayyim ben Joseph Vital ( he, רָבִּי חַיִּים בֶּן יוֹסֵף וִיטָאל; Safed, October 23, 1542 (Julian calendar) and October 11, 1542 (Gregorian Calendar) – Damascus, 23 April 1620) was a rabbi in Safed and the foremo ...
), with commentaries by Knorr von Rosenroth and Henry More; some later editions include a summary of Christian Kabbalah (''Adumbratio Kabbalæ Christianæ'') by F. M. van Helmont.Don Karr
''The Study of Christian Cabala in English''
(pdf), p. 43, accessed on 28 March 2013.


Johan Kemper

Johan Kemper (1670–1716) was a Hebrew teacher, whose tenure at
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
University lasted from 1697 to 1716. He was
Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (, ; born Emanuel Swedberg; 29 March 1772) was a Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, ''Heaven and Hell'' (1758). Swedenborg had ...
's probable Hebrew tutor. Kemper, formerly known as Moses ben Aaron of Cracow, was a convert to
Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
from Judaism. During his time at Uppsala, he wrote his three-volume work on the ''Zohar'' entitled ''Matteh Mosche'' ('The Staff of Moses'). In it, he attempted to show that the ''Zohar'' contained the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.See Elliot R. Wolfson's study available at . This belief also drove him to make a literal translation of the
Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and ...
into Hebrew and to write a kabbalistic commentary on it.


Adorján Czipleá


See also

*
Emanation (Eastern Orthodox Christianity) Emanation (literally "dripping") is a belief, found in Neoplatonism, that the cause of certain beings or states of being consists of an overflow from the essence of God or other higher spiritual beings, as opposed to a special act of creation. ...
* Platonism in the Renaissance


References


Bibliography

* Armstrong, Allan: ''The Secret Garden of the Soul: An introduction to the Kabbalah'', Imagier Publishing: Bristol, 2008. * Blau, J. L.: ''The Christian Interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance'', New York: Columbia University Press, 1944. * Dan, Joseph (ed.): ''The Christian Kabbalah: Jewish Mystical Books and their Christian Interpreters'', Cambridge, Mass., 1997. * Dan, Joseph: ''Modern Times: The Christian Kabbalah''. In: ''Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2006. * Farmer, S.A.: ''Syncretism in the West: Pico's 900 Theses (1486)'', Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1998, . * Reichert, Klaus: ''Pico della Mirandola and the Beginnings of Christian Kabbala''. In: ''Mysticism, Magic and Kabbalah in Ashkenazi Judaism'', ed. K. E. Grözinger and J. Dan, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1995. * Swietlicki, Catherine: ''Spanish Christian Cabala: The Works of Luis de Leon, Santa Teresa de Jesus, and San Juan de la Cruz'', Univ. of Missouri Press, 1987. * Wirszubski, Chaim: ''Pico della Mirandola's encounter with Jewish mysticism'', Harvard University Press, 1989. * Yates, Frances A.: ''The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age'', Routledge & Kegan Paul: London, 1979.


External links


Christian Cabala

The Study of Christian Cabala in English

The Study of Christian Cabala in English: Addenda

Knots & Spirals: Notes on the Emergence of Christian Cabala


* * * {{Christian theology
Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The de ...
Kabbalah