Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Imagination and the Prism of the Inapparent 1. Via Negativa and the Imaginal Configuring of God 2. Apophatic Vision and Overcoming the Dialogical 3. Echo of the Otherwise and the Lure of Theolatry 4. Secrecy of the Gift and the Gift of Secrecy 5. Immanent Atheology and the Trace of Transcendence 6. Undoing (K)not of Apophaticism: A Heideggerian Afterthought Notes Bibliography Index

Promotional Information

The book explores the codependency of monotheism and idolatry by examining the thought of several prominent twentieth-century Jewish philosophers-Cohen, Buber, Rosenzweig, and Levinas.

About the Author

Elliot R. Wolfson is the Marsha and Jay Glazer Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Between 1987 and 2014, he was the Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. He is the author of Through a Speculum That Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism (Princeton University Press, 1994); Language, Eros, Being: Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination (Fordham University Press, 2005); A Dream Interpreted Within a Dream: Oneiropoiesis and the Prism of Imagination (Zone Books, 2011); Giving Beyond the Goft: Apophasis and Overcoming Theomania (Fordham University Press, 2014); and The Duplicity of Philosophy’s Shadow: Heidegger, Nazism, and the Jewish Other (Columbia University Press, 2018).

Reviews

"We are used to apophatic theology in the service of Christianity. Here, though, Elliot Wolfson brings his deep knowledge of Kabbalah and modern Jewish thought to a rich consideration of apophaticism in Judaism. His readings of Buber, Cohen, Derrida, Levinas, Rosenzweig, and Wyschogrod are nothing less than riveting, as are his readings of thinkers such as Heidegger and Marion. This is a book that all students of modern Jewish thought and its interactions with European philosophy will want to read." - Kevin Hart, The University of Virginia "This book, at once meticulous and daring, makes an important contribution to theology - one that may end up, uncomfortably, moving the discourse beyond itself. The argument is developed through a remarkable combination of reason, mysticism, analysis of experience, and historical knowledge." - Karmen MacKendrick, Le Moyne College "This is a wonderful contribution to the field of philosophy and theology by one of the most important thinkers writing in English. His command of the material is masterful and his argument persuasive. It is outstanding and a real intellectual tour de force." - Aaron W. Hughes, University of Rochester