=====================
Scholastic Magic
Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism
Michael D. Swartz
Princeton University Press 1996
262 + x pp.
=====================
Table of Contents
Part I : Introduction
Chapter 1
Mentalities of Ancient Judaism ... 3
Chapter 2
Memory, Torah, and Magic ... 33
Part II : The Sar-Torah Texts
Chapter 3
The Texts ... 53
Chapter 4
Sar-Torah Narratives: Translation and Analysis ... 62
Chapter 5
Sar-Torah Rituals and Related Texts ... 109
Part III : Ritual and Revelation
Chapter 6
Ritual and Purity ... 153
Chapter 7
Tradition and Authority ... 173
Part IV : Conclusions
Chapter 8
Scholastic Magic ... 209
Bibliography ... 231
Source Index ... 249
General Index ... 257
======================
In exploring the social background of early Jewish mysticism, "Scholastic magic" tells the story of how imagination and magic were made to serve memory and scolasticism. In the visionary literature that circulated between the fifth and ninth centuries, there are strange tales of ancient rabbis conjuring the angel known as Sar-Torah, the "Prince of the Torah". This angel endowed the rabbis themselves with spectacular memory and skill in learning, and then taught them the formulas for giving others these gifts. This literature according to Michael Swartz, gives us rare glimpses of how ancient and medieval Jews who stood outside the mainstream of Rabbinic leadership viewed Torah and ritual. Through close readings of the texts, he uncovered unfamiliar dimensions of the classical Judaic idea of Torah and the Rabbinic civilization that forged them. Swartz sets the stage for his final analysis with a discussion of the place of memory and orality in ancient and medieval Judaism and how early educational and physiological theories were marshalled for the cultivation of memory. He then examines the unusual magical rituals for conjuring angels and ascending to heaven as well as the author's attitudes to authority and tradition, showing them to have subverted essential Rabbinic values even as they remained beholden to them. The result is a ground-breaking analysis of the social and conceptual background of Rabbinic Judaism and ancient mediterranean religions. Offering complete translations of the principal Sar-Torah texts, "Scholastic magic" will become essential reading for those interested in religion in the ancient and medieval world, ritual studies, and popular religion.
==========================
MsSVig
Scholastic Magic
Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism
Michael D. Swartz
Princeton University Press 1996
262 + x pp.
=====================
Table of Contents
Part I : Introduction
Chapter 1
Mentalities of Ancient Judaism ... 3
Chapter 2
Memory, Torah, and Magic ... 33
Part II : The Sar-Torah Texts
Chapter 3
The Texts ... 53
Chapter 4
Sar-Torah Narratives: Translation and Analysis ... 62
Chapter 5
Sar-Torah Rituals and Related Texts ... 109
Part III : Ritual and Revelation
Chapter 6
Ritual and Purity ... 153
Chapter 7
Tradition and Authority ... 173
Part IV : Conclusions
Chapter 8
Scholastic Magic ... 209
Bibliography ... 231
Source Index ... 249
General Index ... 257
======================
In exploring the social background of early Jewish mysticism, "Scholastic magic" tells the story of how imagination and magic were made to serve memory and scolasticism. In the visionary literature that circulated between the fifth and ninth centuries, there are strange tales of ancient rabbis conjuring the angel known as Sar-Torah, the "Prince of the Torah". This angel endowed the rabbis themselves with spectacular memory and skill in learning, and then taught them the formulas for giving others these gifts. This literature according to Michael Swartz, gives us rare glimpses of how ancient and medieval Jews who stood outside the mainstream of Rabbinic leadership viewed Torah and ritual. Through close readings of the texts, he uncovered unfamiliar dimensions of the classical Judaic idea of Torah and the Rabbinic civilization that forged them. Swartz sets the stage for his final analysis with a discussion of the place of memory and orality in ancient and medieval Judaism and how early educational and physiological theories were marshalled for the cultivation of memory. He then examines the unusual magical rituals for conjuring angels and ascending to heaven as well as the author's attitudes to authority and tradition, showing them to have subverted essential Rabbinic values even as they remained beholden to them. The result is a ground-breaking analysis of the social and conceptual background of Rabbinic Judaism and ancient mediterranean religions. Offering complete translations of the principal Sar-Torah texts, "Scholastic magic" will become essential reading for those interested in religion in the ancient and medieval world, ritual studies, and popular religion.
==========================
MsSVig