Harvey, Warren Zev:
Idel on Spinoza

In: Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies 6, 18 (2007), 88-94

Literature type: Articles
Language: English
Thematic areas: Metaphysics / ontology, Spinoza and Judaism / Jewish philosophy
Subject (individuals): Abraham Abulafia ; Idel, Moshe [e.a.]

English commentary: "In the course of his studies on Kabbalah, Moshe Idel has written on the influence of Kabbalists on philosophy. He suggests that Spinoza was influenced by the Kabbalah regarding his expressions Deus sive Natura and amor Dei intellectualis. The 13th-century ecstatic Kabbalist Rabbi Abraham Abulafia and many authors after him cited the numerical equivalence of the Hebrew words for God and Nature: elohim = ha-teba` = 86. This striking numerical equivalence may be one of the sources of Spinoza's expression Deus sive Natura. The same Kabbalist used the Hebrew expression ahabah elohit sikhlit (divine intellectual love), which may underlie Spinoza's expression amor Dei intellectualis. Abulafia's expression ahabah elohit sikhlit is repeated by the popular 15th-century Maimonidean philosopher, Rabbi Abraham Shalom." (abstract)

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