Dissolution vs. Resolution: An Examination of Abraham Heschel's Religious Typologies

It would be easy, at first cursory glance, to group monastic Eastern mysticism, fashionable, modern, Western mysticism (e.g. Kabballah), and the orgiastic cults of past centuries with the prophets of the Bible. To do so, however, would demonstrate a gross ignorance of even the most basic tenets of at least one – if not both – of the two groups. Sadly, this amalgamation happens quite often. In an essay entitled “An Examination of the Theory of Ecstasy,” Abraham Heschel set forth a list of typologies comparing and contrasting the prophets with their mystic counterparts. Heschel’s stance is far from the purported claims of many scholars, which tacitly assume “that the experiences of the prophets are of the same kind as those of the orgiastic cults in many primitive societies." It is clear, examining his observations, that the events purported by the two categories could not possibly be experiences of the same divine reality. Read more...
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