A World of Piety

The Aims of Castilian Kabbalah

Jeremy Phillip Brown

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Hardback

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English

Stanford University Press
07 October 2025

European history; Medieval history; Social & cultural history; Judaism; Judaism: mysticism

Series: Stanford Studies in Jewish Mysticism

A World of Piety examines the historical aspirations of kabbalah to prompt a revival of ancient rabbinic piety in medieval Castile.

What were the aims of the celebrated works of rabbinic wisdom fashioned during the reigns of Alfonso X and Sancho IV of Castile, including the formative Book of the Zohar? In pursuit of this question, Judaica scholar Jeremy Phillip Brown turns to the Hebrew and Aramaic writings composed by Todros ben Joseph ha-Levi Abulafia of Toledo, Joseph Gikatilla of Medinaceli, and especially Moses de León of Guadalajara. These writings set out to disseminate the secret patrimony of ancients: a knowledge of divinity comprised of essentially Jewish attributes as a basis for human emulation. According to these texts, God models a pious form of life—not merely a life of Torah and the commandments, but a program exceeding the norms of religious obligation. Midnight vigils for prayer and study, guarding the eyes and tongue,sexual austerity, spiritual poverty and concern for the materially poor—the texts affirm that God exemplifies these and other modes of piety, prompting their imitation as a penitential means of individual and even socialtransformation. Bymeans of their writings, the Castilian authors sought to form penitents as ""other people"" created anew in the Judeomorphic image of God.

A World of Pietysheds light on the core motivations of a discourse that would emerge as a major domain of religion and thought by reconstructing the socio-historical ambitions of a little-known cadre of medieval rabbis active in a Christian milieu.

By: Jeremy Phillip Brown
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781503643666
ISBN 10: 1503643662
Series: Stanford Studies in Jewish Mysticism
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 07 October 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Jeremy Phillip Brown is Jordan H. Kapson Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Notre Dame.

Reviews for A World of Piety: The Aims of Castilian Kabbalah

""Jeremy Brown's work on piety in Castilian kabbalah of the thirteenth century is a landmark contribution, reframing the very purpose of the writings of Moses de León and of the central text of Jewish mysticism, The Zohar."" --Joel Hecker, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College ""Jeremy Brown identifies the key motivation behind the composition of the Zohar: stimulating a pietistic revival. Rather than mysticism, the Zohar's message is 'pietism.' The mystical elements--along with the ancient disguise and enchanting Aramaic--are deployed to inspire an ethical transformation. An eloquent and bold book."" --Daniel Matt, author of the annotated translation, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition