Daniel Matt: Jewish Mysticism

The department of religion presents a special guest lecture on Thursday Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the South P/J Plaza auditorium, "How Kabbalah Reimagines God," by Daniel Matt of the Graduate Theological Union.

Matt is a leading authority on the Zohar and Kabbalah. He is the author of the best-selling "The Essential Kabbalah" (HarperSanFrancisco, translated into seven languages); "Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment" (Paulist Press); "God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony Between Science and Spirituality"; and "Zohar: Annotated and Explained" (Jewish Lights). He is also the author of the annotated translation "The Zohar: Pritzker Edition" (Stanford University Press). He has so far completed six volumes of this immense project, which has been hailed as “a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought.” Formerly professor of Jewish spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Matt now resides in Berkeley.

The 12 volume "Zohar Pritzker Edition, Translation and Commentary by Daniel C. Matt" published by Stanford University Press is the first translation ever made from a critical Aramaic text of the "Zohar," which has been established by Matt based on a wide range of original manuscripts. The work will eventually span 12  volumes. The extensive commentary, appearing at the bottom of each page, clarifies the kabbalistic symbolism and terminology, and cites sources and parallels from biblical, rabbinic and kabbalistic texts.

This lecture is free and open to the public.