What is it about?
The article demonstrates that the knowledge of the Syriac language in Western Europe first developed amongst Christian scholars with a strong interest in Kabbalah and that they attributed a mystical dimension to the Syriac language that was not associated with it before. After a survey of the first authors that played a significant role in shaping the appropriation of Syriac as a mystical language (Teseo Ambrogio, Postel, Widmanstetter), I show that the newly discovered last work of Christian Knorr von Rosenroth constitutes the climax of that movement. The study of the later reception of Knorr’s work in modern occultism indicates that the Syriac language was eclipsed by the renewed favor of Hebrew language, considered as the magical and mystical language par excellence.
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Why is it important?
The article shows the important role played by Christian Kabbalists in shaping the late modern perception of Syriac Language, and in the development of a philological approach to Jewish mystical texts.
Perspectives
By underlying the deep involvment of Christian Knorr von Rosenroth in the study of Jewish Mystical texts, especially the Zohar, I hope to stimulate further research on the perception of this central text by Christian authors and by later Western Esotericists.
Anna M. Vileno
Universite Libre de Bruxelles
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This page is a summary of: The Western Appropriation of Syriac as a “Kabbalistic Language” by Later Christian Kabbalists, Aries, January 2022, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15700593-20211009.
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