On G. Scholem’s phenomenology of Judaism
by
Moshe Idel

…it would be methodologically more reasonable to check first the claims of the Kabbalists themselves. Their affirmations as to the normative nature of Kabbalah and its sources in ancient Judaism must be seriously scrutinized before concluding that they are unfounded and only when such a dead end will become obvious, the resort to Gnosticism, or any other alternative, may be used in order to open a more fruitful approach.

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Originally published in Modern Judaism 11 (1991): 281-296 © 1991 by The Johns Hopkins University Press