Messianic Movements

Name: Messianic Movements
Brand: גרשם שלום
Price: 58.0 ILS
Availability: InStock

58 ₪

In parallel with his prolific work on Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem delivered many public lectures. He usually chose to lecture on subjects he was researching at the time, in conjunction with his courses at the Hebrew University. These lectures dealt with particular topics, and at times Scholem delivered lecture series on wider themes. At times he wrote thorough lecture notes, but usually he only left general comments in the form of subject headings. Some of these lectures were recorded by others, in preparation for the possibility of publication. Around the time of his death, there was an initiative to publish new editions of Scholem’s writings. In this context, several of these types of lecture were printed (including a number of lectures related to messianism). Most, however, were hidden away in his archive, their importance notwithstanding. They sank into the abyss – along with the editorial and publication project. Now, at a time when Scholem’s cultural presence is at a peak, and when countless different interpretations of his works have been forwarded, the time seems ripe to return to his “hidden” texts, and to redouble the efforts to publish his scattered and archival writings. The series of lectures from 1947 – which focus on the history of Jewish messianic movements, Sabbatianism foremost among them – are but a small sample of a whole hidden collection which, one hopes, will soon be published.