Kabbalah: The Untold Story of the Mystic Tradition [Paperback]

Kenneth Hanson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004

Kabbalah is a golden vein in western spiritual tradition, a sacred cosmology. This powerful meditation on the nature of the Creator, developed over three millennia, has been studied and practiced by generations of devotees around the world. Today's seekers come to Kabbalah from many religious backgrounds, sensing its unparalleled power but often lacking a necessary understanding of the mysterious Kabbalah's roots. In these pages Kenneth Hanson, Ph.D., unravels the hidden history of Kabbalistic practices and decodes its images in ways contemporary readers can comprehend. Now is the time for this magical treasure to emerge from scholastic cloisters so that a world in crisis can access its tremendous power for creating good. In Kabbalah Hanson shines light on this ancient body of knowledge, allowing you to enter Kabbalah's story and begin to make this spiritual adventure your own.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

When you read the Da Vinci Code did you wonder about numerology and the meaning of ancient symbols? Kabbalah, which reveals the true story of many ancient mystical sects, is an accessible book filled with the story, history and an expert easy-to-follow, interpretation of this mystic tradition. Hebrew scholar Kenneth Hanson tells the enthralling story of Kabbalah -- the sacred writings of the Jewish Mystics. This story took place over three millennia as the Kabbalah gave rise to the mystic strains of Judaism and Christianity. Hanson follows this amazing history, from the appearance of the early Kabbalists like the Teacher of Righteousness of 200 B.C. to Brooklyn's Hasidic rabbis of today. He explores the meaning of Kabbalist mysteries: the sacred Name of God with its immense creative power, secret understandings of the Creation, the Four Worlds, the Kabbalistic art of numerology, and the practice of magic that developed from Kabbalistic studies. Kabbalah interweaves Kabbalist writings with the story of its writers, sages whose migrations lead us on a mystical adventure through time and across many lands and cultures.

About the Author

Kenneth Hanson, Ph.D., teaches Judaic Studies at the University of Central Florida in Orlando and Philosophy and Religion at Rollins College. A natural storyteller, Dr. Hanson has, through his books, Dead Sea Scrolls: The Untold Story and Kabbalah, made ancient texts accessible to everyone. He is a frequent guest on radio and TV talk shows in various parts of the country.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Council Oak Books; 2nd edition (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571781420
• ISBN-13: 978-1571781420
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,387,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kabbalah, The Untold Story of the Mystic Tradition, July 12, 2005

By 

Mike Bosse (Hamilton, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kabbalah: The Untold Story of the Mystic Tradition (Paperback)

A very good book on Kabbalah. This is a must read for anyone wishing to learn about this very old and complicated subject. This is the place most should start their study as Kenneth Hanson does a great job of the history and beginings of Kabbalah.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Basic Introduction To Kabbalistic History, November 5, 2009

By 

William G. Pratt (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kabbalah: The Untold Story of the Mystic Tradition (Paperback)

Dr. Kenneth Hanson has put together a concise guide to the history and development of Kabbalah, beginning with it's roots in Merkabahism and ending with a look at modern-day Hasidism. I liked his simple, easy-to-follow style of each chapter being a follow-up to the previous in history. He really helps trace the development and dispersion of Kabbalah throughout the ages in a way that makes sense from both a historical and emotional perspective.

I found his chapter on relating Kabbalah to modern astrophysics a bit of a stretch - his relations between Turner's explanations of cosmological origins with passages from the Kabbalistic texts not always coinciding with each other. It reminded me a bit of Capra's "The Tao of Physics", where Capra attempts to show that the quantum-mechanical worldview supports the ideas of Eastern mysticism. The problem with such is often a case of throwing away Occam's Razor in favor of forming connections that are tenuous given the changeable nature of scientific inquiry and discovery. Identifying religious & spiritual thought with current scientific theories is a dangerous proposition, for if the theory changes all that is left is for the mystic to attempt to re-explain the experience and ignore the prior attempts.

Overall, I liked this book for it appears to be a much more simplified and reader-friendly version of Gershom Scholem's "Kabbalah". I recommend it for anyone who is interested in the history and development of Kabbalah, whether or not they choose to begin a Kabbalistic practice (which the author does not delve very deeply into, in case any readers wish to seek such). Unlike what the subtitle declares, there is not much in here that is "untold", though it is delineated into a more easily understood progression for the layperson and scholar alike.