The Transcendent Beloved : Platonic Eros and Its Graeco-Arabic Paths to Kabbalah.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Werthmann, Tanja.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Zohar.

Cabala--History.

Cabala.

Love--Religious aspects--Judaism.

Love.

Sex--Religious aspects--Judaism.

Sex.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (0 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2026.

Summary:

Tanja Werthmann's The Transcendent Beloved traces the course of Platonic and Neoplatonic notions of eros as they shaped major patterns in medieval Islamic and Jewish thought. It shows the impact of the ancient Greek heritage on Arabic and Hebrew sources, culminating in their profound expression in the Zohar, the major thirteenth-century work of Jewish mysticism. Werthmann provides vivid textual examples to illustrate that classical philosophical concepts played a central role in the formulation of kabbalistic traditions. This book thus sets love in Jewish mysticism against the background of the vast Arabic literature on love--its immediate historical precedent. Werthmann showcases the rich dialogue between Greek, Arabic, and Latin religious traditions, offering a sensitive decoding of the metaphysics of Jewish mystical literature.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction Metamorphoses of Platonic Eros

Part I Eros from Plato to the Zohar

1 Eros in Plato and Plotinus

1.1 Eros in Plato

1.1.1 Symposium-The Ladder of Love

1.1.2 Phaedrus-Eros, Self-Knowledge, and Knowledge of God

1.2 Eros and Beauty in Plotinus

1.2.1 Degrees of Beauty

1.2.2 Ontology of Beauty

1.2.3 Eros

1.2.4 The Good as Beauty

Concluding Remarks

2 From Eros to ʻIshq

2.1 Terminology and the Paradigm of Earthly Love

2.2 Platonic Eros in the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity

2.2.1 Definitions of ʻIshq

2.2.2 The Platonic Ladder of Love

2.2.3 The Transition to the Intelligibles and the Vision of Light

2.2.4 Summary of the Ladder of Love

2.2.5 Ontology of Love and Beauty

2.3 Ibn Sīnā's Ontological Theory of ʻIshq

2.3.1 'Ishq in Matter, Form, and Accidents

2.3.2 'Ishq towards Earthly Beauty

2.3.3 'Ishq of the Divine Souls and the Universal Longing

2.4 Mystical Love in al-Ghazālī

2.4.1 The Causes of Love

2.4.2 Ultimate Pleasure

2.4.3 Excess of Love

2.4.4 Consequences of Love

3 Love in Medieval Jewish Philosophy

3.1 Neoplatonic Love in Solomon ibn Gabirol

3.2 Devotional Love in Baḥyā ibn Paquda

3.3 Maimonides' Devotional 'Ishq

Conclusion

4 Love of God in Moses de León's Book of the Pomegranate and in the Zohar

4.1 Love in Moses de León's Book of the Pomegranate

4.1.1 Moses de León and Philosophy

4.1.2 Love of God in Moses de León's Book of the Pomegranate

4.1.3 The Midrashic Veil

4.2 You Shall Love YHVH Your God

Part II Metaphysics of Eros and Reciprocity: Zoharic Images and Their Background

1 Images of Gendered Ontology.

1.1 Zoharic Images of Complementarity and Reciprocity in the Kabbalistic Context

1.1.1 Images of Complementarity and Reciprocity in the Zohar

1.1.2 Androgyny as Ontological Necessity in Joseph Gikatilla

1.1.3 Metaphysics of Opposed Principles in R. Abraham ben David of Posquières

1.2 Myth and Gendered Ontology in Plato and Plotinus

1.2.1 The Primordial Human in Plato's Symposium

1.2.2 Plato's Primordial Human in Arabic and Jewish Tradition

1.3 Myth and Gendered Metaphysics in Plato, Plotinus, and Medieval Sources

1.3.1 Poverty and Resource

1.3.2 Metaphysical Interpretations of the Platonic Myth

1.3.3 Gendered Metaphysics in Arabic and Jewish Philosophy

1.3.4 Neoplatonic Traditions in Arabic

1.3.5 Maimonides' Gendered Allegorization

1.3.6 Moses ibn Tibbon's Exegesis of the Song of Songs

1.3.7 Prime Matter in Neoplatonized Presocratics

1.3.8 Solomon ibn Gabirol's Metaphysics of Love

1.3.9 Wisdom as the Nursing Mother in Geronese Kabbalah

2 The Kiss as Image of Love and Reciprocity

2.1 Maimonides' Metaphor of the Kiss

2.2 The Kiss in the Zohar and Its Genealogy

2.3 Merging of Breaths in Arabic Sources

2.4 Moses ibn Tibbon's Imagery of the Kiss

2.5 Metaphysics of Mutual Inclusion

2.6 The Transcendent Beloved

Eros-'Ishq-Zohar

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-784279-8

0-19-784280-1

0-19-784278-X

9780197842782

OCLC:

1570638299