Temple Emanu-El
Spiritual. Egalitarian. Welcoming.
Spiritual. Egalitarian. Welcoming.
“Searching for Oneness with the One: Mysticism in the Abrahamic Traditions”
This brief talk will consider a few fundamental questions: What is mysticism and how does it differ from everyday religion? What are some of the elements that tie Jewish. Christian and Muslim mysticism together and how do they differ from each other? Are there mystics today, in our secularized world?
Ori Z. Soltes teaches at Georgetown University across a range of disciplines, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history. He is the former Director and Curator of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum, and has curated more than 90 exhibitions there and in other venues across the country and overseas. He is also the author of over 280 books, articles, exhibition catalogues, and essays on diverse topics. Among his books are The Ashen Rainbow: Essays on the Arts and the Holocaust; Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source; Searching for Oneness: Mysticism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam; Untangling the Web: Why the Middle East is a Mess and Always Has Been; Jews on Trial: from Jesus to Jonathan Pollard; Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art and Architecture; and most recently, Magic and Religion in the Greco-Roman World: The Beginnings of Judaism and Christianity.
