The Kabbalah by Christian D Ginsburg Full Audiobook The Sohar, the Schools & Jewish Mysticism

Christian D. Ginsburg spent his career on the Hebrew text of the Bible, and in 1863 he turned the same careful attention to the Kabbalah. This is the second and final part of his study, and it leaves doctrine behind to take up the books and the people themselves. It opens with the Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Formation — a short, strange work written as though the patriarch Abraham were speaking, which builds the world out of ten numbers and twenty-two letters. From there Ginsburg traces the tradition forward: the school of Gerona, the school of Segovia, Abulafia and his followers, and then the long chronological survey that closes the book — six centuries of Kabbalistic writing from 1236 to his own day, including the Christian scholars Mirandola and Reuchlin who carried it into Europe, the schools of Safed under Cordovero and Loria, and the modern critics who questioned the Zohar's antiquity. What distinguishes Ginsburg is that he neither mocks the material nor disappears into it. He treats these texts as documents with a history — written by people, in a place, for a reason. The conclusion of a three-part reading, unhurried and complete. Chapters: 1:26 Introduction 7:49 Chapter 1 22:22 Chapter 2 35:07 Chapter 3 50:33 Chapter 4 52:29 The Later Kabbalistic Schools 1:13:45 The School of Gerona 1:20:55 The School of Segovia 1:22:46 The Quasi-philosophic School 1:24:10 The School of Abulafia 1:33:37 The Kabbalah Spreads Among Jewish Writers, 1236-1500 1:44:49 The Christian Kabbalists: Mirandola and Reuchlin, 1463-1522 2:01:37 The Schools of Safed: Cordovero and Loria, 1450-1620 2:11:09 Opponents and Early Critics, 1571-1830 2:23:01 Modern Scholarship, 1843-1863 — About this book — Christian David Ginsburg (1831–1914) was a Polish-born biblical scholar who settled in England and became one of the foremost authorities on the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible. His critical edition of the Hebrew scriptures remained a standard reference for decades. "The Kabbalah: Its Doctrines, Development, and Literature" appeared in 1863, early in his career, and was among the first serious English-language treatments of Jewish mysticism written for a general scholarly audience. — What this volume contains — This recording covers the second half of the work. It moves from the Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Formation) through the medieval Kabbalistic schools — Gerona, Segovia, the followers of Abraham Abulafia — and concludes with a chronological survey of Kabbalistic literature from 1236 to 1863. — Why it mattered — Ginsburg argued, against the tradition's own claims, that the Zohar was a medieval composition rather than an ancient one. That position was contested in his lifetime and is now broadly accepted. The closing survey records the dispute as it stood, naming the scholars on each side. — Note on the text — The source contains substantial Hebrew and Greek script, which has been removed as unspeakable rather than narrated. Footnote apparatus is likewise omitted from the reading. — Image credits — All artwork in this video is in the public domain: • Kircher Tree of Life.png — Athanasius Kircher (1652). Wikimedia Commons, Public domain • Flammarion.jpg (1888). Wikimedia Commons, Public domain • Region Elementaire ou Sublunaire qui Comprend Les Corps Simpes qui Sont Elements, divisez — Mariette, Gregoire, 1646-1710. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain • Woman teaching geometry. wikimedia-commons, public-domain • "Page of Calligraphy Illuminated with Animals and Plants in a Field of — Nanha (verso: ca. 1610–15; recto: ca.1535–45). The Met Open Access, CC0 — About this recording — “The Kabbalah (Volumes 2 & 3 of 3)” by Christian D. Ginsburg (1863) is a public-domain work. This video pairs a human-recorded introduction with an AI-narrated reading of the public-domain text, produced by Strange Books Read Aloud. All sources are public domain — text: a verified public-domain edition; imagery: public-domain artwork. The AI narration and the ambient audio are our own production. We claim no copyright over the public-domain text or artwork. #Audiobook #Kabbalah #Sleep