Židovská gnóze, mystika merkavy a talmudická tradice

In this book, Gershom Scholem reflects on the extent to which some elements of Jewish mysticism in the formative period of Judaism can be called "gnostic" and on their points of contact and differences in comparison with the Greek, Christian or Mandaean gnostic tradition. Studying selected topics (speculations on the measure of the Body and the Divine garment, Metatron mysticism, etc.), he examines their interpretation within Judaism, which tends to lean more towards the established Orthodox line and, while in some respects not shying away from foreign influences, lacks dualistic exacerbation. To the contemporary analyses of the Greek magical papyri and the incipient discussions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, he adds a scholarly reflection on the Heichalotian literature, which at that time had not yet been critically evaluated and was rather on the fringes of scholarly interest. The book includes Scholem's (i.e., the first complete) edition of the Heichalotian macroform Ma'ase merkava, as well as a retrieval study by Saul Lieberman (1898-1983) on the oral tradition of the Song of Songs.

Czech edition