Gnosticism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== Kabbalah ==== Gershom Scholem, a historian of [[Jewish philosophy]], wrote that several core Gnostic ideas reappear in medieval [[Kabbalah]], where they are used to reinterpret earlier Jewish sources. In these cases, according to Scholem, texts such as the [[Zohar]] adapted Gnostic precepts for the interpretation of the [[Torah]], while not using the language of Gnosticism.<ref>[[Gershom Scholem|Scholem, Gershom]]. ''Origins of the Kabbalah'', 1987. Pp. 21β22.</ref> Scholem further proposed that there was a Jewish Gnosticism which influenced the early origins of Christian Gnosticism.<ref name="Scholem Jewish Gnosticism">[[Gershom Scholem|Scholem, Gershom]]. ''Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and the Talmudic Tradition'', 1965.</ref> Given that some of the earliest dated Kabbalistic texts emerged in medieval [[Provence]], at which time [[Cathar]] movements were also supposed to have been active, Scholem and other mid-20th century scholars argued that there was mutual influence between the two groups. According to Dan Joseph, this hypothesis has not been substantiated by any extant texts.<ref>[[Joseph Dan|Dan, Joseph]]. ''Kabbalah: a Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 24.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page