E. Mystical Qabalah, Mystical Christianity,
and the Christian Cabala
Mystical Christianity is an outgrowth of the same universal spirituality
found in the Hebrew tradition as the Mystical Qabalah. Christianity began
as a sect of Judaism that sprang from the messianic advent of Master Yeshuvah,
who was born a Jew and lived in a Jewish culture. All of his apostles and
early disciples were also Jews. Master Yeshuvah, as with every appearance
of Messiah, brought a fresh transmission of universal mystical spirituality
clothed in the context of the historical setting, cultural milieu, environment,
language, characteristic worldview, and prevailing body of discourse among
the people to whom it was being delivered. The mainstream of Jews at the
time Master Yeshuvah appeared had been expecting a savior of the Jewish
people who would deliver them from Roman oppression through an apocalyptic
process. This contrasted with the Jewish mystical community, which had been
anticipating a messianic advent with the spiritual mission of reuniting
Israel with their Lord YHVH, and a returning to the true religion of the
children of Abraham. Master Yeshuvah himself clearly asserted that he had
not come as an innovator to replace the tradition with a new teaching, but
as a reformer who had come to fulfill the Torah and the prophets,
and to renew the ancient faith that had faded into decay.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law (i.e. Torah)
or the prophets; I have not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I
say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke
of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished." (Matthew
5:17-18)Peshitta, Matthew 5:17-18.
But what began as a small Jewish sect centered around a Jewish Messiah and
understood in contemporary Jewish terms, not Greek or Roman, came to be
transformed into a major religion composed almost exclusively of Gentiles.
In the process of this transformation, the legacy of the Jewish heritage
upon which Christianity was founded was largely modified and assimilated
into the Greek language and Hellenistic worldview. As the new religion of
Christianity emerged estranged from its Jewish roots, it developed in accordance
with Roman political organization and social conventions. When Christians
later "brought civilization" to the indigenous tribes of Western
Europe, they adapted Christian theology to the languages and cultures of
those tribes, and absorbed many of their conventions and observances as
a means to facilitate and expedite their conversion. The resultant version
of Western Christianity thereby evolved into a historical phenomenon significantly
different than Near Eastern Christianity, and even farther removed from
its Judaic roots.
Today, a growing body of scholars is questioning many aspects of Christianity
that have been popularly held for a long time. A picture is emerging that
shows that the history, theology, and practice of Christianity have been
directly effected and shaped by dominant factions, resulting in the marginalization
and suppression of the mystical element as being in opposition to accepted
doctrine. As soon as Paul entered the picture, a dichotomy arose among the
early Christian devotees between those coming from a traditional Jewish
background and the growing group of Gentile Christians. In this regard,
it is interesting to consider the letter written by Master Yeshuvah's brother
James, the leader of the Jerusalem Church, as an indicator of the opposition
that emerged to some of Paul's central teachings.Eisenman, Robert. James the Brother of Jesus, Penguin,
New York 1997.
The diversity of perspectives of the early followers of Master Yeshuvah
was later replaced by the monolithic homogeneity imposed by emperors to
make Christianity a uniform religion throughout their empires. As the Pauline
Gentile faction grew in numbers and power, and the Catholic Church of Rome
assumed orthodox authority over Christianity, it absorbed and codified Mystical
Christianity in much the same way that Rabbinical Judaism assimilated and
obscurated the Mystical Qabalah. The essential Jewishness of early Christianity
was virtually wiped out by the massive revisionism of the Pauline Gentiles.
We will have to wait for further windfall discoveries of source documents
to be able to establish a clear picture of what happened during the earliest
stages of Christianity after the departure of Master Yeshuvah.
Like the Hebrew Qabalah, Mystical Christianity has remained alive through
lineages of accomplished souls who ascended its paths and passed on its
teachings and practices. A new generation of Christians is seeking to revisit
the mystical origins of Christianity. This interest has been fueled by the
discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the recovery of an almost intact copy
of the long-lost Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Thomas, translated by Thomas Hickey, Esoterica, Iowa City, 1992. The Gospel of Thomas was discovered in
the Coptic Gnostic Library found at Nag Hammadi in Upper
Egypt.at Nag Hammadi, and a growing interest
in the enigmatic Revelation of John spurred by the advent of a new
millennium. Many Christians are also finding new meaning and inspiration
in the testimonials left by Christian saints and mystics of their experiences
on the Path. These documents, along with new interpretations of the teachings
of Master Yeshuvah in the Peshitta, are reinforcing the understanding that
the mystical element flourished in the early church, and that the entire
history of Christianity is replete with mystics.
Many of the ideas and practices of the Mystical Qabalah are reflected in
those of Mystical Christianity. The mysteries of the Last Supper and the
Crucifixion have long been compared with the mystical significance of Pesach
(Passover). The sacraments of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist
have their roots in the sacramental use of bread and wine that goes back
to the earliest Hebrews and beyond. Ablution with water, lighting of candles,
prostration, rituals that celebrate the mystical significance of the rites
of passage, and rituals associated with changes of season, planting and
harvesting are other fundamental elements Christianity shares in common
with its Hebrew, Judaic, and Islamic cousins.
Starting in the late fifteenth century CE, a movement arose among some Jewish
converts to Christianity in Spain to ascribe a distinctly Christian context
to the hidden meanings of qabalistic doctrines. This movement gained momentum
from speculation among Florentine Platonists that the Qabalah contained
a lost revelation that explains the secrets of the Catholic faith. This
cross-pollination led to the emergence of a distinctly Christian Cabala
founded by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494). Pico's writings, and
subsequently those of John Reuchlin (1455-1522), caused a sensation in Christian
intellectual circles and ignited an interest in this previously unknown
esoteric Jewish tradition that spread across Italy, Germany, and France.
In the sixteenth century CE, the appearance of qabalistic texts in Latin
translation enhanced attempts to draw further parallels between esoteric
Jewish doctrines and Christianity. Guillaume Postel translated and published
the Zohar and Sefer Yetzirah into Latin even
before they were published in Hebrew. Latin texts in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries were influential in standardizing "Cabala"
as the spelling commonly associated with the Christian perspectiveAmong influential works that contributed to the proliferation of the spelling ‘Cabala’ was Georg von Welling’s Opus
Mago-Cabbalisticum, which appeared in 1735. to qabalistic
doctrines.
In the seventeenth century CE, the center of Christian Cabala moved to England
and Germany, where its status was boosted by the theosophical writings of
Jacob Boehme and the landmark qabalistic compendium of Christian Knorr von
Rosenroth.Knorr Von Rosenroth, Christian. Kabbala Denudata, 1684.
This notable book contained Latin translations of key
sections of the Zohar and sizable excerpts of Lurianic
material. Von Rosenroth and Athanasius Kirchner extrapolated the qabalistic
allusion of Adam Kadmon to be a reference to Jesus as the primordial man
in Christian theology. In the final phase in the development of the Christian
Cabala in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it became permeated
with alchemical symbolism and conjoined with the emerging doctrines of theosophy.
This in turn greatly influenced the development of Freemasonry.
