The Hekhalot literature is a bizarre conglomeration of Jewish esoteric and revelatory texts in Hebrew and Aramaic, produced sometime between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages and surviving in medieval manuscripts. These texts claim to describe the self-induced spiritual experiences of the "descenders to the chariot" and to reveal the techniques that permitted these magico-religious practitioners to view for themselves Ezekiel's Merkavah as well as to gain control of angels and a supernatural mastery of Torah. Drawing on epigraphic and archaeological evidence from the Middle East, anthropological models, and a wide range of cross-cultural evidence, this book aims to show that the Hekhalot literature preserves the teachings and rituals of real religious functionaries who flourished in late antiquity and who were quite like the functionaries anthropologists call shamans.
Author(s): James R. Davila
Series: Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 70
Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 354
DESCENDERS TO THE CHARIOT: The People behind the Hekhalot Literature......Page 3
Contents......Page 7
Acknowledgments......Page 9
Abbreviations and Sigla......Page 11
1. The Hekhalot Literature......Page 13
The Nature of the Texts......Page 18
Literature or Experience?......Page 24
Authorship and Life Situation......Page 28
Conclusions......Page 33
Mysticism......Page 37
Magic......Page 44
Shamanism......Page 55
The Hekhalot Literature and Shamanism......Page 61
Shamanisms in This Book......Page 64
Chosen by the Spirits......Page 67
The Descenders to the Chariot and Physiognomy......Page 72
Other Evidence......Page 79
Conclusions......Page 84
Ascetic Techniques of Shamans......Page 87
Ascetic Techniques in the Hekhalot Literature......Page 105
Conclusions......Page 136
Shamanic Initiatory Transformations......Page 138
Arctic Hysteria......Page 140
The Dark Night of the Soul and the Healed Healer......Page 142
Dangerous Encounters with the Divine in the Judaic Tradition......Page 148
The Descenders to the Chariot and the Direct Vision of God......Page 151
Attacks by Angels versus the Ruinous Vision of God......Page 156
The Enoch Tradition......Page 161
Enoch, Metatron, and the Fiery Transformation......Page 163
Conclusions......Page 166
The Shamanic Otherworldly Journey......Page 168
The Otherworldly Journey in the Hekhalot Literature......Page 181
Conclusions......Page 207
7. Control of the Spirits......Page 208
Shamanic Control of the Spirits......Page 209
Control of the Spirits in the Hekhalot Literature......Page 216
The Spirits in the Hekhalot Literature......Page 223
Conclusions......Page 224
Aims and Methodology......Page 226
Comparison of the Hekhalot Literature to Other Texts of Ritual Power......Page 228
The Social Background of the Tradents of the Hekhalot Literature......Page 257
Conclusions......Page 265
The Hekhalot Literature and the Community......Page 269
Were the Descenders to the Chariot Magicians?......Page 302
The Model: Shaman and Community......Page 304
"Shamans" and "Shaman/Healers"......Page 309
The Evolution or Popularization of the Hekhaht Traditions......Page 314
Conclusions......Page 316
Main Conclusions......Page 318
Ancillary Proposals and Suggestions for Further Research......Page 320
Bibliography......Page 325
Index of Modern Authors......Page 337
Index of Primary Texts......Page 340
Index of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Words and Phrases......Page 353
