Book Club Roundup: Kabbalah and the Founding of America (Part 2)
Continuing the discussion on the Kabbalistic influence and history of early Protestant thought
Hey friends, last week The Reversion Book Club held our second meeting for the book “Kabbalah and the Founding of America: The Early Influence of Jewish Thought in the New World”
As we reach the half way point of this text, we have been extracting some great insights despite the difficulty of being introduced to the complex history of this subject. The 17th century marked a transition from the occult renaissance of the middle ages to the spread of Kabbalistic thought in America through the early Puritan intellectuals, so for many who are new to the subject it has been difficult to grasp some of the concepts referenced in the book.
However, the advantage of joining the book club is that we are able to gain a better understanding of more challenging books that we might struggle to read on our own by gathering insights and sharing knowledge as a community.
For those who haven’t joined yet, our book club communications, scheduling and meetings all take place in our Discord community. Paid supporters also will get instant access to all our previous book club recordings, which is well over 10 hours of discussion. This week’s audio recording is posted below.
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Audio is available to all subscribers this week. Enjoy!
In this week’s 90 minute session we discussed the following:
Announcements/Updates
Language of Kabbalah and concepts used in the Quaker theology
The replacing of Christian mysticism with Jewish mysticism in Protestant thought
Presence of “Shekinah” in modern Protestant theology
Adam Kadmon as an androgynous “primordial man” and its modern implementation through the transgender movement
For further reading on this subject, I wrote on Messianic Judaism here:
What does everyone think of this book as an introduction to Kabbalistic influence of western thought?
Hermetic Kabbalah of the occult renaissance
What is a better introduction?
Differences in Jewish and gentile practice of Kabbalah
Difficulties with understanding where the Quaker beliefs and Kabbalistic concepts intersect.
Advantage of the book club to gain further insights and context in light of more difficult readings like this
Puritan connections to Sabbatai Zevi’s teachings, recurring cast of characters in the book
Sabbatai Zevi’s impact on the spread of Kabbalism, Christian Kabbalah and his conversion to Islam
Kabbalistic influence of modern revolutions and “the spirit of the age” and its propagation by gentiles
Analogy of Kabbalistic influence as a leaking tap
Wrap up and thoughts on the selection of books moving forward
I am going to leave this week’s discussion open for all subscribers to listen to hour recording below and in case you still haven’t joined, I’ve included an invite link. I hope to see you in the next one!
🎧 Listen to: Book Club Roundup Live Audio
Kabbalah and the Founding of America (Pt. 2) ⬇️