This paper focuses on the Hasidic view, namely, that human flaws do not function as a barrier between a fallen humanity and a perfect deity, since the whole of creation stems from a divine act of self-contraction. Thus, we need not be discouraged by our own shortcomings, nor by those of our loved ones. Rather, seeing our flaws in the face of another should remind us that imperfection is an aspect of the God who created us. Such a positive approach (...) to human fallibility arouses forgiveness, mutual acceptance, and a hope for repair, and, therefore, has much to recommend itself. In the first part of the paper, I argue that the notion of a perfect God derives from the Greeks rather than the Hebrew Bible. A review of classical philosophies and the idea of God’s imperfection is followed by a consideration of several Jewish attempts to resolve the dichotomy between Divine perfection and an imperfect creation. I focus on Lurianic Kabbalah, Hans Jonas, and on the Hasidic concept of "Ayin " or “nothingness” as the very source of redemption. This Hasidic idea, which was further expanded upon by the Baal Shem Tov’s students, appears in a tale recounted by his great-grandson R. Nachman of Bratslav called “The Hanging Lamp.” I focus on the tale, which illustrates the idea that knowledge of human imperfection is itself a means of perfection and redemption. (shrink)

Éditeur, commentateur, traducteur d’Érasme et de More, C. Miller s’est particulièrement illustré dans ses travaux sur l’Encomium Moriae et dans sa traduction des poèmes de l’humaniste hollandais. Attentif aux “métamorphoses” de la Moria, il a étudié avec une rigueur extrême les diverses éditions de ce texte fameux, en tenant compte notamment du commentaire de Listrius, pour donner en 1979 une excellente traduction de The Praise of Folly et une non moins excellente édition critique de ce texte. Plus récemment, s’attaquant avec (...) Harry Vredeveld aux poèmes d’Érasme—Vredeveld est l’éditeur des Carmina dans l’édition critique d’Amsterdam—il en fournit la première traduction complète en langue anglaise, sans chercher à opposer aux différents mètres latins les équivalents approximatifs d’ une métrique anglaise: mais c’est une prose poétique, d’une parfaite rigueur, brillante—souvent plus brillante que le modèle latin—, attentive aux nuances subtiles de l’affectivité d’Érasme comme à ses variations d’humeur, passant du grave au mélancolique, ou du dévotieux à l’humoristique selon la couleur du temps, le thème choisi, le destinataire, l’étiage psychique du poeta orator. (shrink)

Is Judaism essentially a religion of laws and commandments? Or do its sources reflect significant attempts at addressing the individual's inner life, existential crises and spiritual experiences? Inner Religion in Jewish Sources offers a comprehensive exploration of inner life in the Jewish sources from the Bible to rabbinic literature, from Medieval Jewish philosophy to Kabbalistic writings and the Hasidic world, where it gained particularly potent expressions. Addressing the issue from the perspective of comparative religion, it seeks to emphasize the commonality (...) of processes of interiorization in various religious traditions, suggesting an innovative angle both in the study of religion and of religious thought. In doing so, it sheds new light on the inner aspect of Jewish religious life, which is all too often hidden behind the external and institutional aspects of the Jewish religion. (shrink)

Researchers and clinicians describe how the vocabulary, theoretical framework, and information processing models of cognitive psychology are applied to various disorders of attention, memory, language, vision, calculation, and motor control.

Parallèlement à ses travaux divers relatifs à Érasme et à l'érasmisme (études biographiques et critiques, éditions, traductions), l'auteur poursuit depuis de nombreuses années une bibliographie analytique de tous les erasmiana publiés (voire inédits) depuis 1936 (année du quatrième centenaire de la mort d'Érasme). Avec ce quatrième volume sera couvert le champ de quarante années de bibliographie érasmienne. De nombreux index - notammment les index des éditions et des traductions, et les index thématiques - permettent de déterminer, à travers l'univers, les (...) points de concentration d'études spécifiques, l'importance de quelques "chantiers" ouverts dans l'Ancien et le Nouveau Monde, la plus grande popularité de certaines œuvres, les intérêts nouveaux suscités par la pensée et les textes de l'humaniste hollandais, avec, à l'occasion des temps forts marqués par les célébrations des anniversaires (1936, 1967-69, 1986 - pour le 450e anniversaire de la mort d'Érasme -) une véritable accumulation de travaux. La poursuite de ses travaux bibliographiques, que l'auteur espère pouvoir mener jusqu'à l'actualité la plus immédiate, semble bien confirmer, une fois de plus, la parole prophétique de John Colet : "Nomen Erasmi nunquam peribit", le nom d'Érasme ne périra jamais. (shrink)

This article opens with a brief phenomenological comparison between Gershom Scholem’s Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism and Moshe Idel’s Kabbalah: New Perspectives. Scholem’s book is diachronic or historical in approach while Idel’s is primarily synchronistic, focusing on devekut (devotion) in Jewish Mysticism, the concept of Unio Mystica, a variety of mystical techniques, Kabbalistic theosophy, theurgy, and Kabbalistic hermeneutics. The author concentrates on four characteristics of Idel’s studies in Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism: ecstatic Kabbalah, the definition of Jewish mysticism, Hasidism as (...) a spiritual movement and the study of Jewish magic. In addition he discusses key criticisms leveled at Idel’s treatment of these subjects. (shrink)

Following World War I, a new artistic-social avant-garde emerged with the ambition to engage the artist in the building of social life. Through close readings of the works of Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, and László Moholy-Nagy whose careers covered a broad range of artistic practices and political situations, Victor Margolin examines the way these three artists negotiated the changing relations between their social ideals and the political realities they confronted. Focusing on the difficult relationship between art and social change, (...) Margolin brings important new insights to the understanding of the avant-garde's role in a period of great political complexity. "An ambitious effort. This book puts the masters of European Modernism into perfect focus as inventors, propagators, and practitioners of a visual language that continues to hold sway over contemporary graphic style."—Steven Heller "Worth the wait.... Margolin usefully presents what he calls the 'failed hope' of this movement in this valuable effort."—Publishers Weekly. (shrink)

This volume of the Amsterdam edition of the Latin texts of Erasmus deals with education and learning, and the mastery of Latin. It presents a critical edition of the Latin texts of De pueris instituendis, De ratione studii , De conscribendis epistolis and Ciceronianus.

When examining the great number of documents connected with the political constellation of the years 1510-1513, we discover in France two strongly opposite views regarding the personality and policy of Pope Julius II: “conciliarist” and “papalist” theories. These foster a climate of latent war, especially as Louis XII’s policies – both at home and abroad – were unanimously condemned, even by the loyal Bude. Among the pamphlets of that time echoing this double crisis, this article presents French and Gallican poet (...) Pierre Gringore’s satirical work: the Chasse du Cerf des serfs – a play upon the Latin words, servus servorum Dei, as popes called themselves for humility –. This essay also refers to Erasmus’s Latin dialogue, Julius exclusus a coelis, a dramatic work proving skillfully rhetorical and vengefully ironical against this “warlike pope.”. (shrink)

Stage organise par le Centre d'etudes superieures de la Renaissance de Tours, sous la direction de Jean-Claude Margolin et tenu du 3 au 25 juillet.