Can secular spirituality be religiously inspired?: the hasidic legacy in the eyes of skeptics
A trenchant and rather paradoxical Hasidic saying asserts the following: He who believes the tall tales told by the Hasidim may be a fool, but he who does not believe them is a heretic. It turns out that many secular writers have in fact read and examined Hasidic tales sympathetically, without neces...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
University of Pennsylvania Press
[2013]
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In: |
AJS review
Year: 2013, Volume: 37, Issue: 1, Pages: 93-113 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Hasidim
/ Secularism
/ Relationship
/ Spirituality
/ Religion
B Inspiration / Author / Religiosity / Metaphysics / Legacy / Hassidism |
IxTheo Classification: | BH Judaism |
Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | A trenchant and rather paradoxical Hasidic saying asserts the following: He who believes the tall tales told by the Hasidim may be a fool, but he who does not believe them is a heretic. It turns out that many secular writers have in fact read and examined Hasidic tales sympathetically, without necessarily regarding them as true. But what exactly is the relationship of such non-believers to Hasidism? Can a secularist genuinely connect with texts that seem to be totally immersed in their religious context and driven by specifically religious interests? Can a reader who repudiates the assumptions of the original author (and even of his intended audience) nevertheless engage in a personally uplifting or even spiritually-inspired reading of such texts? Is there a spiritual dimension capable of traversing the barriers of religious doctrine, and penetrating the inner world of the heretic? |
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ISSN: | 1475-4541 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Association for Jewish Studies, AJS review
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0364009413000056 |