Modern European Mysticism and Psychological Thought

Lecture 1: Introduction
Mysticism: Various Approaches. Magic, Mysticism, and Psychology. The Transition to Modernity. Defining the European context. The Situation of Judaism in Modernity. Psychology.

Lecture 2: Kabbalah and Psychology
History of Kabbalah and Kabbalah Research. History of Kabbalistic Views of Psychology.

Lecture 3: Kabbalah and Psychology: Close Reading of a Text
20th Century Kabbalah and Kabbalistic Psychology. Close Reading of a 20th Century Text by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. 20th-21st Century: Later Development of Kabbalistic Schools. Discussion points: Will; Freedom; Depths; Cosmic theory; The soul.

Lecture 4: The Psychology of Hesychasm (Eastern Christian Mysticism)St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God. Archimandrite Zacharias, The Hidden Man of the Heart. Discussion Points: The Psychology of Sin and Repentance; Transformation; Social Psychology; Positive Psychology.

Lecture 5: The Catholic Revival and the Religion of the Heart
Quietism: Miguel de Molinos. Feminine Spirituality. The Move to America. Discussion Points: Language and Silence; Active and Passive Models of Mystical Psychology.

Lecture 6: Psychology in Protestant Pietistic Mysticism
Pietism and German Mysticism in the Early Modern Period. Jacob Böhme, Forty Questions of the Soul. Discussion points: Will; Alchemy and Psychology; Wonder; Soul; Political Angle in Psychoanalysis; Gender.

Lecture 7: Concluding Discussion
Main Themes of the Course. Mystical Psychology in the Global Contemporary Context. Psycho-Spirituality. Mysticism in Contemporary Psychology.

• Jonathan Garb - Department of Jewish Thought, School of Philosophy and Religions