REVIEWS Gershom G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
REVIEWS Gershom G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition. New York, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1960. Pp. 126. If by Gnosticism we understand a religious movement that proclaimed a mystical esotericism for the elect based on illumination and the acquisition of a higher knowledge of things heavenly and divine, then Judaism certainly has produced its own shade of Gnosis. Scholars have been remarkably reluctant, or, rather un- willing to allow that Gnostic tendencies may have developed in the very midst of Palestinian Judaism itself. But there exists a whole chain of Hebrew and Aramaic texts, known as the Hekhccloth Books and preserved, not on the outer fringes of Judaism, but in circles highly conscious of their attac.hment to Pharisaism, which bear witness to the existence of Jewish Gnosticism. Most scholars have continually underrated the antiquity of these texts, thus precluding their correct evaluation. In fact Dr. Scholem admits that he himself was not radical enough in his now famous book Major Trends in Jewish lVlysticism. He is now able to prove that the main themes of Jewish Gnosticism, to wit, the description of the ascent to heaven, the celestial hymns, and the doctrine of the mystical "body of God", must be ascribed to either the Tannaitic or the early Amoraic period. Two questions may be asked then: did there exist a pre-Christian Jewish Gnosticism that served as a point of departure for early Christian heresies, and had such Jewish Gnostic teaching already introduced the differentiation between the highest unknown God and the Demiurge, identified with the God of Israel ? The answer to the first question is in the affirmative. Scholem shows scholarly and with great learning that the documents of Christian Gnosticism presuppose some basic conceptions of Merkabah Mysticism, as expounded in the Hekkalotk Books; and he has some caustic remarks on certain scholars, who have been looking far and wide to establish the Iranian source from which it all has come. On the other hand he is rather reluctant to admit that the Dead Sea Scrolls have a specifically Gnostic, or even pre-Gnostic character : it is true that "tholedoth" is used there in the technical sense of "nature", as in a chiromantic text of Jewish Gnosticism (and this, we add, is important for the Gnostic conception that three natures were born from Adam, Exc. ex Theodoto 54,1). But according to the author it still remains to be seen whether there is any relationship between these Essenes and the Jewish Gnostics. 118 Scholem acutely proves that St. Paul must have been familiar with the terminology of Merkabah Mysticism, when he spoke about his ascent to the Paradise in the third heaven. Did he notice that St. Paul was compelled to do so by opponents from Palestine, who speak about their own visions? This makes it probable that such extatic experiences were highly appreciated in some quarters of the primitive community of Jerusalem and furnishes another proof that this mysticism did indeed originate in Palestine at a very early date. I would have liked to hear the author's opinion on the "philosophy" of the Colossians, their cult of the angels and what is meant with the mysterious words cl icbeaxsv ?,u?aiEVCav (2,18). Are these Colossians who remain faithful to certain prescrip- tions of the Law and at the same time have visionary experiences another proof of the existence of Jewish Gnosticism? In any case, their heresy, and other heresies mentioned in the Pastorals and other later writings of the New Testament did not know of any differentiation between the unknown God and a lower Demiurge. They thus confirm the view of Scholem, vigorously defended against Dupont Sommer, that Jewish Gnosticism remained strictly monotheistic. I do not quite understand why the author is hesitant to admit that the Gospel of Truth does not mention a distinction between the highest God and the Creator. But even if this Gnostic dualism were presupposed, can there be any doubt that the speculations on the Name, contained in this writing, ultimately go back to the apocalyptic and esoteric lore of the Jews for whom the Gnosis of the Name was of paramount importance ? Scholem himself quotes a Jewish mystical text, according to which the whole world is sus- tained by the letters of the Name. The same, however, is found in a magical papyrus (Preisendanz, P.G.M., 1, p. 38), which was no doubt influenced by the above mentioned Jewish conception. Now, in the Pastor of Hermas (Sim. Ix, 14,5) it is stated that TO 5volza Tog viov tov Deoi) p8'ya èaÛ xal àXWer¡TOV xa' zov xóaflo'P 5Aov f3aaTáCet. J. Ponthot, Le "Nom" dan8 lay théologie des Peres Apostoliques, Louvain 1950, p. 89, rightly observed that this conception is akin to the Jewish theme of the "role cosmogonique du Nom". This was said before the discovery of the Gospel of Truth and before the startling revelations of prof. Scholem. In the light of the new material it has become much more probable that Hermas, and Valentinus the Gnostic, were familiar with Jewish traditions about the Name. Dr. Scholem has conclusively shown that the documents of Valentinian Gnosticism, especially the Excerpta ex Theodoto, betray the influence of Jewish esoteric teachings. He does not consider the possibility that these views had been transmitted by Jewish Christians from Palestine, but rather believes that they .