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{"id":15368,"date":"2014-01-14T07:58:13","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T07:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=390"},"modified":"2014-01-14T07:58:13","modified_gmt":"2014-01-14T07:58:13","slug":"flicker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/01\/flicker\/","title":{"rendered":"Flicker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Despite Benjamin\u2019s claim that he is settled in the tradition of Kabbalah, he dispenses with all the textual interest of Kabbalah: He \u201cneither leaves intact the interpretive steps of classical Kabbalah, nor acknowledges the sacredness of the texts submitted to speculative exegesis, nor rests easy with its speculative content.\u201d When Benjamin is done, all that\u2019s left is the notion that intuition comes in a glimpse, a \u201clightning flash,\u201d an Augenblick<\/em>. Carnage is everywhere, but the messianic bursts in as no more than a flicker in the darkness (64).<\/p>\n

As O\u2019Regan says, this is \u201cantithetical to Torah Judaism,\u201d and also \u201chighly eccentric with respect to the Jewish mystical tradition,\u201d which remains Jewish in its hope for a real Messiah who redeems the world (67).<\/p>\n

O\u201dRegan thinks this is good news: \u201cwhen Benjamin\u2019s form of apocalyptic is rejected by a Christian proponent of a maximally eidetic apocalyptic (Balthasar), good relations between Judaism and Christianity are not at stake, and contrariwise, when Benjamin\u2019s form of apocalyptic is accepted as it is by Metz, the embrace of Benjamin\u2019s apocalyptic ought not be confused with the embrace of Judaism\u201d (67).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"