Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism: Studies in Honor of Alexander

Description

The essays collected in Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism intend to honor Alexander Golitzin, a scholar known for his keen attention to the Jewish matrix of Eastern Orthodox spirituality. Following Golitzin's insights, this Festschrift explores influences of Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism on certain early and late Christian authors, including Irenaeus, Origen, Evagrius of Pontus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Symeon the New Theologian. Special attention is given to Jewish theophanic traditions regarding the beatific vision of the divine Glory (Kavod), which profoundly shaped Eastern Christian theology and liturgy. This volume demonstrates that recent developments in the study of apocalyptic literature, the Qumran Scrolls, Gnosticism, and later Jewish mysticism throw new and welcome light on the sources and continuities of Orthodox theology, liturgy, and spirituality. ‎Contents ‎Abbreviations ‎Notes on Contributors ‎Bibliography of the Works of Alexander Golitzin (Compiled by Bucur) ‎Introduction (Orlov) ‎Part 1. Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism and Mysticism ‎Chapter 1. Traumatic Mysteries: Pathways of Mysticism among the Early Christians (DeConick) ‎Chapter 2. The Importance of the Parables of 1Enoch for Understanding the Son of Man in the Four Gospels (Gieschen) ‎Chapter 3. Driven Away with a Stick: The Femininity of the Godhead in y. Ber. 12d, the Emergence of Rabbinic Modalist Orthodoxy, and the Christian Binitarian Complex (Bunta) ‎Chapter 4. The Nativity of Ben Sira Reconsidered (Russell) ‎Part 2. Theophany and Transformation ‎Chapter 5. Historical Memory and the Eschatological Vision of God’s Glory in Irenaeus (Anatolios) ‎Chapter 6. Flesh Invested with the Paternal Light: St Irenaeus on the Transfiguration of the Body (Behr) ‎Chapter 7. Flesh and Fire: Incarnation and Deification in Origen of Alexandria (Stang) ‎Chapter 8. St John Chrysostom in the West (Plested) ‎Chapter 9. Divine Light and Salvific Illumination in St. Symeon the New Theologian’s Hymns of Divine Eros (McGuckin) ‎Part 3. Jewish Temple and Christian Liturgy ‎Chapter 10. Leviathan’s Knot: The High Priest’s Sash as a Cosmological Symbol (Orlov) ‎Chapter 11. Moses as the First Priest-Gnostikos in the Works of Evagrius of Pontus (Young) ‎Chapter 12. Holy Sound: Preaching as Divine Song in Late Antique Syriac Tradition (Harvey) ‎Chapter 13. The Lord Himself, One Lord, One Power: Jewish and Christian Perspectives on Isaiah 63:9 and Daniel 7:13 (Bucur) ‎Part 4. Pseudo-Dionysius, Plato, and Proclus ‎Chapter 14. Revisiting the Christian Platonism of Pseudo-Dionysius (Perczel) ‎Chapter 15. Individual and Liturgical Piety in Dionysius the Areopagite (Louth) ‎Chapter 16. Ps.-Ps.-Dionysius on the Dormition of the Virgin Mary: The Armenian Letter of Dionysius to Titus (Shoemaker) ‎Chapter 17. The “Platonic” Character of Gregory of Nyssa’s Psychology: The Old Canon (Barnes) ‎Chapter 18. Charioteer and Helmsman: Some Distant Echoes of Plato’s Phaedrus in Syriac Literature (Brock) ‎Index of Modern Authors ‎Index of Subjects