For those who might be in the neighborhood, I’ll be offering a lecture and workshop on Wednesday, August 27, at the London Kabbalah Centre. Details to come, but I’ll be speaking about the elements of kabbalistic thought within the three great faiths of the Abrahamic tradition. (Yeah, I know, that’s a lot to cover in one evening.) There may be another lecture in Antwerp or Brussels earlier in the week; we’re still firming things up on that front. More soon.
Archive for the 'Kabbalah' Category
Though I don’t often blog about it, I’ve been studying Kabbalah since early 2004. Friends of ours invited my wife and me to come to a few lectures, and after a suitable period of suspicion, I became fascinated. My initial reservation about Kabbalah was the most common of all: wasn’t Kabbalah incompatible with Christianity? Like most folks, I was under the impression that Kabbalah was the “mystical aspect of Judaism”, with roots no earlier than the Middle Ages.
The Kabbalah Centre is quite controversial, particularly among Jews, for espousing the notion that Kabbalah is more of a “practice” than a faith — and that as a practice, it is universally applicable. While the study of Kabbalah was once reserved solely for married Jewish men over forty, the Centre makes the case that Kabbalah’s teachings can transform anyone’s life. The most famous practitioner of Kabbalah is Madonna, and she and other celebrities have given rise to the popular assumption that this ancient wisdom, at least as practiced by the Centre, is trendy, undemanding, and bastardized. (Let me note that Madonna’s commitment is profound and enduring rather than transitory and superficial.)
Doing internet research is a poor way to learn about the Kabbalah Centre. The one and only scholarly study of the Kabbalah Centre in print is Jody Myer’s recent monograph Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest: The Kabbalah Centre in America (Praeger 2007). Myers, professor of Religious Studies at Cal State Northridge, spent years interviewing the Centre’s students, teachers — and detractors. Her work is fair, even-handed, and though not without some small criticisms of the Centre’s operations, ultimately quite laudatory of the work it does in the world. I recommend it strongly to anyone interested in learning more.
In any event, I’ve worked through my initial skepticism to discover that the Centre does offer helpful spiritual tools to those who have a strong faith in Jesus. When I first came to the Kabbalah Centre, I was told “Hugo, whatever Kabbalah does in your life will only make you a better Christian. We don’t want you to try and become Jewish. We want you to use whichever tools you find that are helpful to enhance your own understanding of God and your role in the universe.” I had my doubts. But to paraphrase William James, contempt prior to investigation is a sure bar against understanding, and so I gave Kabbalah my time and my effort. Continue reading ‘Lecturing on Kabbalah and Christianity in the Philippines: a report’
It’s the day after Christmas (or, for purists, the second day of Christmas), and I’m getting into a routine that will occupy me for the next ten days or so.
I taught 20 classes at Pasadena City College in 2007: three in winter, seven in the spring, three in the summer, seven in the fall. I’m taking the winter intersession of ‘08 off to take a couple of trips, the first of which will be for both business and pleasure.
On January 8 and 9, I’ll be giving lectures on Christianity and Kabbalah in the Philippines. More details are available by clicking here. The first lecture will focus on Kabbalah’s interpretation of the life and ministry of Jesus; the second will discuss the compatibility of Christian and kabbalistic practice. If you live near Manila, come and hear.
I’ve got a fairly good idea of what I’ll be covering in these two talks, but I need to bang out an outline over the next few days. I’ll share details — both of the trip and of the content of the lectures — after we get back from the Philippines. Blogging will be light but regular over the next ten days or so until we leave.
It’s just before nine in the morning, and I’m back in the office on campus. Our flight from London left two hours late, and the baggage carousel was very slow at LAX yesterday afternoon — the upshot was that I just made it to PCC in time for my 6:00PM class wearing the same clothes I’d worn on the plane, unshowered, jet-lagged, and decidedly malodorous. I managed to teach for nearly three hours regardless, but I kept a greater-than-usual distance from my students.
I smell better this morning. Today is a “faculty FLEX” (inservice education) day. We’re given doughnuts, orange juice, and pep talks from the administration. Some glad-hander with the initials Ed.D after his or her name will address a plenary session of the faculty, offering us the latest pedagogical insights. Most of us, rude hypocrites that we are, will conduct ourselves all the while like the very students we dislike: we’ll doze, whisper, and play with our various electronic gadgets. Most of us will make disparaging remarks about those who pursue education degrees, or call themselves “educators” instead of “teachers” or “professors.”
I’d much rather be teaching today.
In any event, my wife and I had a fascinating time in Israel. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, we’ve both been affiliated with the Kabbalah Centre for many years. This year, the Centre chose to mark the High Holy Days in Israel, and we decided that represented the right time for us to make our first visit to that remarkable, challenging part of the world. Continue reading ‘Home again: some preliminary reflections on Israel’
Some eight months ago, I posted about a one-day trip out to Boston to take part in the shooting of a video about the Kabbalah Centre. I’ve been a student of Kabbalah for a couple of years now, and I have found it has enhanced and enriched my faith life as a Christian. I don’t blog much about the intersection of Kabbalah and Christianity because, rather obviously, my blogging interests revolve largely around Christianity and feminism. I’m also aware that the "media hype" around the Kabbalah Centre (and the celebrities who study there) makes it difficult for people to avoid being dismissive of the valuable work that is done within that community.
Anyhow, the video is finally done. Here’s the link. It runs about 24 minutes, and you can stream it or download a higher quality version. I appear a couple of times in the program, as do many folks who are close and dear to my wife and to me. Though it may raise as many questions as it answers, if you’re curious about Kabbalah, taking less than half an hour to watch this video may be well worth your while.
And because this is a blog that quite a few folks read (for which I am grateful) let me say the obvious: my opinions on this blog, in all of my posts, are my own. I’m fairly certain that my words only very occasionally represent the views of my family, Pasadena City College, All Saints Episcopal Church, the Kabbalah Centre, the Team Blarney running club, The Matilde Mission, the Cal Alumni Association, or any other organization with which I am affiliated. If you don’t like what I’ve got to say, blame me — not the communities in which I work, worship, study, volunteer and exercise.
And in some rare Saturday night linkage, check out what Amanda’s got to say about the Ukrainian bride trip I posted about earlier this week. Also, read what Lynn has to say about men, modesty and self-control: topics I’ve been on a lot lately — and will be addressing yet again soon.
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