Undertakes a thorough investigation of early Jewish theogonic and cosmogonic traditions found in the Enochic writings and their formative influence on subsequent Gnostic, Manichaean, and Kabbalistic developments.
In Broken Vessels, Andrei A. Orlov offers a comprehensive examination of early Jewish theogonic symbolism as reflected in early Enochic texts and its subsequent influence on Gnostic, Manichaean, and later Kabbalistic traditions. Introducing a new methodological approach to understanding the conceptual foundations of theogonic imagery in Lurianic Kabbalah, Orlov argues that this symbolism was neither a later invention of Jewish mystics nor merely a remnant of Manichaean and Gnostic motifs. Rather, these mystical traditions drew upon authentic Jewish theogonic currents that originated during the Second Temple period. The book further demonstrates that the distinctive theogonic and eschatological concepts preserved in early Jewish writings—most notably in 2 Enoch—offer valuable insights into the evolution of the Enochic tradition during the first centuries of the Common Era. This era witnessed significant reinterpretations of the biblical creation narrative by diverse Jewish and Christian groups. Within these developments, the notion of a "time before creation" emerged as a pivotal theme in debates concerning the completeness and authority of divine revelation.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. God Before Creation
2. Luminous Shell: Adoil's Rupture
3. Glowing Shell: Arukhas' Rupture
4. Alchemy of Light and Darkness
5. Elevating the Sparks
6. Herald of the Eschatological Aeon
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Andrei A. Orlov is Professor of Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity at Marquette University. His previous books include The Greatest Mirror: Heavenly Counterparts in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha; Divine Scapegoats: Demonic Mimesis in Early Jewish Mysticism; Dark Mirrors: Azazel and Satanael in Early Jewish Demonology; and Demons of Change: Antagonism and Apotheosis in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism, all published by SUNY Press.
Review :
"Beautifully written and thoroughly documented, Broken Vessels demonstrates years of engagement with its materials and offers a new contextualization of 2 Enoch within these cosmogonic traditions." — April D. DeConick, Rice University
"Using forgotten Slavonic texts, Andrei Orlov breaks new ground in the understanding of the history of Jewish mysticism. His original and audacious monograph will trigger extensive revisions of the history of Kabbalah as understood in modern scholarship. His argument is compelling and requires special attention in both the field of Slavonic apocrypha and in the emergence of medieval and Lurianic Kabbalah." — Moshe Idel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Broken Vessels constitutes a monumental achievement in the comparative study of the dualist-tinged cosmogonies found within a variety of religious and theosophic treatises emanating from the eastern Mediterranean world from late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and early modernity. Through a systematic and rigorous philological examination, the author weaves together a complex tapestry of discrete textual sources and unravels a number of intriguing and stimulating correspondences, which point toward their reliance upon and adaptation of a stream of more ancient shared traditional cosmogonic lore. The result is a magisterial accomplishment that compels us to reimagine the possible interrelationships among Jewish, Christian, Manichaean, and gnostic esoterica." — John C. Reeves, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
"In this seminal book, Orlov pursues one step further his archeology of esoteric and mystical knowledge in Judaism and Christianity. II Enoch, he convincingly argues, has been consistently understudied. In a feast of deep philology, he shows it lies at the root of gnostic and Manichaean late antique esoteric traditions, as well as of medieval and early modern Kabbalistic doctrines. Orlov's oeuvre has deeply transformed our understanding of the long-standing impact of early Jewish cosmogonic and eschatological conceptions." — Guy G. Stroumsa, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
