What is mysticism? The question continues to be the subject of fierce debate. Some argue that all mystical experience is the same - it is an innate human ability - while others insist that the nature of mystical experience is highly conditioned by the cultural and religious background of the mystic. There is, however, no disagreement about the identity of the mystics themselves. In this book, william Harmless offers a highly readable introduction to the mystics and their message. Their message, he says, centers on three topics: who God is, how we meet God in prayer; and why the human heart is at once so deep, so beautiful, so selfish, and so hard to fathom. By introducing students and general reders to these figures, he hopes to stimulate reflection on these great questions, and deeper exploration of the world's mystical traditions.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson was the charismatic leader of the Chabad Hasidic movement and its designated Messiah. Yet when he died in 1994, the messianic fervor he inspired did not subside. Through traditional means and digital technologies, a group of radical Hasidim, the Meshichistim, still keep the Rebbe palpably close-engaging in ongoing dialogue, participating in specific rituals, and developing an ever-expanding visual culture of portraits and videos. With Us More Than Ever focuses on this group to explore how religious practice can sustain the belief that a messianic figure is both present and accessible. Yoram Bilu documents a unique religious experience that is distinctly modern. The rallying point of the Meshichistim-that the Rebbe is "with us more than ever"-is sustained through an elaborate system that creates the sense of his constant and pervasive presence in the lives of his followers. The virtual Rebbe that emerges is multiple, visible, accessible, and highly decentralized, the epicenter of a truly messianic movement in the twenty-first century. Combining ethnographic fieldwork and cognitive science with nuanced analysis, Bilu documents the birth and development of a new religious faith, describing the emergence of new spiritual horizons, a process common to various religious movements old and new.

The Zohar tells us that one of God's first creations were twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, but these letters were far more than the simple symbols of communication that would later be used in a galley of type. In the metaphysical universe, each letter transfers awesome power from the Upper World to our physical dimension. Yet only one would be found to contain the attributes necessary to trigger the cosmic event that would propel the unseen world into the realm of material reality. As many know, the Bet was chosen. It is the first letter, of the first word, of the first story in the first book of the Five Books of Moses. Kabbalists teach that the Hebrew alphabet, which in Hebrew is called "ivrit" comes from the root word "lavir" meaning "to transfer." Letters are like wires, a technology for transferring energy from the Light of God into the physical world. The allegory of the letters as they pleaded their respective cases for the primary role in God's creative process is the blueprint by which Creation was made possible. Rav Berg illustrates the bedrock of Kabbalah, and poetically reveals the spiritual meaning and history of each of the twenty-two letters: how and why it was created, and what energy it transmits to us. The Rav throws light onto some of the most vexing problems of the present age of quarks, quasars and quantum mechanics during this time in which physicists and metaphysicists are joining hands and minds.

The Cloud of Unknowing describes the contemplative method centered around eliminating all noise and images from the mind, and in that encounter with nothingness, finding God. Meanwhile, despite the austerity of the content, the style of the author is warm and congenial and eminently readable. Patrick J. Gallacher further makes this text accessible to students and teachers by including a gloss, introduction, notes, and glossary. This text gives a great introduction to the ethos of mysticism in the middle ages.

This last volume of three is devoted to the examination and celebration of the artistic, literary and mystical culture and the intellectual life of 16th, 17th and the first half of 18th century Safavid Iran and Mughal India. The early part of this period marked the peak of Muslim political power.

This collection - the second of a three-volume study - examines the roots of the artistic, literary and cultural renaissance of Sufism from the 12th to the 15th centuries. It includes essays on Rumi's poetry and imagery; Sufi music and the idea of ecstacy; sainthood and Neoplatonism; comparative metaphysics and literature; and unity of religion theory in Sufi philosophy.

This anthology offers a comprehensive look at key texts of the Jewish mystical tradition and the Kabbalah. The selections range from the earliest archetypes and sources of the late Antiquity, important kabalistic works, and mystics throughout the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Early Modern Period up to modern Hasidism. Internationally recognized scholar of Jewish mysticism, Joseph Dan, sets the text in chronological order and provides a historical perspective with introductory material.

Isaac Luria (1534-1572) is one of the most extraordinary and influential mystical figures in the history of Judaism, a visionary teacher who helped shape the course of nearly all subsequent Jewish mysticism. Given his importance, it is remarkable that this is the first scholarly work on him in English. Most studies of Lurianic Kabbalah focus on Luria’s mythic and speculative ideas or on the ritual and contemplative practices he taught. The central premise of this book is that Lurianic Kabbalah was first and foremost a lived and living phenomenon in an actual social world. Thus the book focuses on Luria the person and on his relationship to his disciples. What attracted Luria’s students to him? How did they react to his inspired and charismatic behavior? And what roles did Luria and his students see themselves playing in their collective quest for repair of the cosmos and messianic redemption?

Isaac Luria (1534-1572) is one of the most extraordinary and influential mystical figures in the history of Judaism, a visionary teacher who helped shape the course of nearly all subsequent Jewish mysticism. Given his importance, it is remarkable that this is the first scholarly work on him in English. Most studies of Lurianic Kabbalah focus on Luria's mythic and speculative ideas or on the ritual and contemplative practices he taught. The central premise of this book is that Lurianic Kabbalah was first and foremost a lived and living phenomenon in an actual social world. Thus the book focuses on Luria the person and on his relationship to his disciples. What attracted Luria's students to him? How did they react to his inspired and charismatic behavior? And what roles did Luria and his students see themselves playing in their collective quest for repair of the cosmos and messianic redemption?

Revive Your Heart is a call for spiritual renewal and an invitation to have a conversation with one of the world s most recognizable voices on Islam, Nouman Ali Khan. This collection of essays is disarmingly simple, yet it challenges us to change. To revise our actions, our assumptions and our beliefs so we can be transformed from within, as well as externally. It aims to help modern Muslims maintain a spiritual connection with Allah and to address the challenges facing believers today: the disunity in the Muslim community, terrorists acting in the name of Islam, and the disconnection with Allah. These challenges and more are tackled by Nouman Ali Khan, with his profound engagement with the Qur'an, in his trademark voice that is sought out by millions of Muslims on a daily basis. About the Author Nouman Ali Khan is a Muslim speaker and the CEO and founder of Bayyinah Institute, an Arabic studies educational institution in the United States. Currently, he is recognized as one of the world's most influential Muslims, not only in the West.His deep and profound bond with the Qur'an, the Muslim holy book, is at the heart of his work and the focus of his teachings, which manage to reach out to millions of Muslims from many different countries. "

Salomos Oder er en poetisk skatt fra tidlig kristen mysterietradisjon. De ble skrevet i tiden mellom Jesu' dod og 300-tallet. Dette verket er i sin poetiske form gjennomtrukket av ekstatisk mystikk og andelig kjaerlighet, og er derfor saeregent for sin samtid. Odenes opphav er imidlertid fortsatt uklar, selv om de kan synes a vaere pavirket av en urkristen tradisjon som gikk under betegnelsen gnostisisme, pa grunn av vektleggingen av den mystiske og andelige erkjennelsen. Verket forsvant imidlertid for middelalderen, og ble regnet som tapt, i likhet med tekstene til mange andre tidlige kristne retninger. Ved en tilfeldighet ble de gjenfunnet, og brakt til England, hvor Rendel Harris oppdaget dem i 1909, uten at noen visste hvilken poetisk skatt de hadde brakt med seg fra Midtosten. Rendel Harris, som oppdaget odene i den usorterte forsendelsen, oversatte Salomos Oder til engelsk. Hundre ar etter presenteres Odene i norsk oversettelse, slik at de kan vaere til glede og inspirasjon for nye lesergrup

This book presents an intellectual history of today's Muslim world, surveying contemporary Muslim thinking in its various manifestations, addressing a variety of themes that impact on the lives of present-day Muslims. Focusing on the period from roughly the late 1960s to the first decade of the twenty-first century, the book is global in its approach and offers an overview of different strands of thought and trends in the development of new ideas, distinguishing between traditional, reactionary, and progressive approaches. It presents a variety of themes and issues including: The continuing relevance of the legacy of traditional Islamic learning as well as the use of reason; the centrality of the Qur'an; the spiritual concerns of contemporary Muslims; political thought regarding secularity, statehood, and governance; legal and ethical debates; related current issues like human rights, gender equality, and religious plurality; as well as globalization, ecology and the environment, bioethics, and life sciences. An alternative account of Islam and the Muslim world today, counterbalancing narratives that emphasise politics and confrontations with the West, this book is an essential resource for students and scholars of Islam.

This book addresses the troubling questions confronting the modern Jewish worshiper by bringing to the reader the insights of such twentieth-century Jewish theologians as Herman Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Avraham Y. Kook, Mordecai M. Kaplan, R. Arele, Aaron Rote, Elie Munk, Abraham J. Heschel, Jakob J. Petuchowski, Eugene B. Borowitz, and Lawrence A. Hoffman, as well as a variety of feminist theologians. By discussing these theologians, the author discusses a variety of obstacles to prayer: the inability to concentrate on the words and meaning of formal liturgies, the paucity of emotional involvement and lack of theological conviction among worshipers, and the anthropomorphic and, particularly, the masculine emphasis of prayer nomenclature. The result is a book of great interest not just for Jewish worshipers but for anyone interested in the meaning of prayer and the modern approaches to it.

An essential volume of 12th to 17th century papers on the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah As recently as 1915, when the legendary scholar of Jewish mysticism Gershom Scholem sought to find someone-anyone-to teach him Kabbalah, the study of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah was largely neglected and treated with disdain. Today, this field has ripened to the point that it occupies a central place in the agenda of contemporary Judaic studies. While there are many definitions of Kabbalah, this volume focuses on the discrete body of literature which developed between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. The basis for most of this kabbalistic literature is the concept of the ten sefirot, the complex schema depicting the divine persona, and speculation about the inner life of God. It maintains the conviction that all human action reverberates in the world of the sefirot, and thus influences the life of divinity. Proper action helps to restore harmony and unity to the world of God, while improper action reinforces the breach within God brought about originally through human transgression. Collected here in one volume are some of the most central essays published on the subject. The selections provide the reader with a sense of the historical range of Kabbalah, as well as examples of various kinds of approaches, including those of intellectual and social history, history and phenomenology of religions, motif studies, ritual studies, and women's studies. Sections discuss mystical motifs and theological ideas, mystical leadership and personalities, and devotional practices and mystical experiences.

I 1460 kom munken Leonardo de Pistoia til Cosimo de Medicis hoff i Italia, med en samling greske traktater. Disse skulle vise seg for ettertiden a bli grunnsteinen i den sakalte hermetiske laere. Tekstenes hovedperson er den mytiske vismannen Hermes Trismegistus som har likhetstrekk med sa vel Bibelens Moses som romernes Merkur og egypternes Thoth. Det er disse traktatene som for ettertiden er blitt kalt Corpus Hermeticum, og som apenbarer en personlig erkjennelseslaere. Verket har i arhundrene etter det ble tilgjengliggjort gatt sin seiersgang gjennom filosofiske og religiose kretser. Det har fascinert, inspirert og provosert, og tekstenes rikdom har en dybde som evner a gripe sa vel forskere, som menn og kvinner pa soken etter andelig veiledning pa livets stier, pa vei mot menneskets fullbyrdels

Major Philosophers of Jewish Prayer in the Twentieth Century addresses the troubling questions posed by the modern Jewish worshiper, including such obstacles to prayer as the inability to concentrate on the words and meanings of formal liturgy, the paucity of emotional involvement, the lack of theological conviction, the anthropomorphic and particularly the masculine emphasis of prayer nomenclature, and other matters. In assessing these difficultites, Cohen brings to the reader the writings on prayer of some seminal 20th century Jewish theologians. These include Herman Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Avraham Yitzhak, Hoakohen Kook, Mordecai M. Kaplan, R. Arele, Aaron Rote, Elie Munk, Abraham J. Heschel, Jakob J. Petuchowski, Eugene B. Borowitz, and Lawrence A. Hoffman.