From Opaque Mysteries to Lucid Lenses: The ‘Witness of the Kabbalists’ in Reformed Scholarship
This article analyses an overlooked phenomenon in the history of Reformed Hebraism in the era of ‘high orthodoxy’ (c. 1640–1720), namely the increasing interest in Kabbalah as an ancient tradition of ‘mystical’ exegesis. It enquires into the reasons that propelled this interest, proposing that they...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Zutot
Year: 2025, Volume: 22, Issue: 1, Pages: 122-148 |
| Further subjects: | B
Johann Stephan Rittangel
B trinitarian controversies B Jacob Alting B Reformed Theology B Kabbalah B Louis Cappel |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article analyses an overlooked phenomenon in the history of Reformed Hebraism in the era of ‘high orthodoxy’ (c. 1640–1720), namely the increasing interest in Kabbalah as an ancient tradition of ‘mystical’ exegesis. It enquires into the reasons that propelled this interest, proposing that they are to be found in the attempt to elaborate an acceptable notion of an allegorical sense of Scripture that was current in antiquity, as well as in the insistence (which was of particular importance in anti-Remonstrant polemics) that the Trinity and the divinity of the Messiah were known to the ancient Jews through the Old Testament and its interpretation. Finally, the article shows how these ideas developed in the more specific context of Dutch Reformed theology, where Kabbalah was understood by some scholars (especially around the Groningen professor Jacob Alting) as evidence of the spiritual dimension inherent in the Mosaic covenant. |
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| ISSN: | 1875-0214 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Zutot
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/18750214-02101003 |
