Scholem here analyzes six concepts from Kabbalistic writings (foregoing the usual harping on the Kabbalists' strange methods of exegesis), using a cold and removed German modernist style. Each passage quoted is stranger than the last. The text is like a smooth and reflective column marbled with grotesque veins. ( )

I enjoy studying Kabbalah and Judaism, but I found this book hard to relate to. My own personal theological beliefs are quite different from the mainstream of either Judaism or Christianity, and so it is understandable to me that I would find certain ideas that wouldn't resonate with my understanding. Usually, however, I am able to find some applicable ideas within someone else's theological view, that I can, with minor alterations, integrate into my own understanding. For whatever reason, this book just didn't click with me.

That being said, it is probably a fine book for someone with a traditional theology. ( )

Scholem is the most competent and scholarly scholar of the kabbalah, and this book throws out some thought-inducing and important stuff. ( )

Recommended by Harold Bloom.