It sounds a bit grotesque. But more than the Old Testament characters--Elijah, Ezekiel--who've been claimed by the blogosphere as UFO abductees, the great preacher and ideologue of first-century Christianity has a solid claim to the title. Was Elijah an abductee? "And as they [Elijah and … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2014
“Sexualized Spirituality” and the Heretic Rabbi – Jonathan Eibeschuetz and the Moravian Connection
We talked about William Blake, a little bit. We talked a little bit about Jacob Frank, the 18th-century Polish-Jewish cult leader who carried the faith of the long-dead and even longer-discredited Messiah Sabbatai Zevi into previously undreamed of territories of weirdness and erotic … [Read more...]
Extraterrestrial Life – A View From 1797 (Part 2)
Last week I posted part 1 of my translation of the chapter on extraterrestrial life in Rabbi Pinchas Elijah Hurwitz's 1797 book Sefer ha-Breet ("Book of the Covenant"). What follows is part 2. I've talked about Hurwitz and his book in last week's post. I'm intrigued by his quotation--I can't … [Read more...]
Extraterrestrial Life – A View From 1797 (Part 1)
I was 13 years old. I'd just become a UFOlogist; I was excited by the idea that ancient documents like the Bible might speak of flying saucers. I asked my grandfather, who was something of a Hebrew scholar, what the Talmud--the great book of post-Biblical Judaism, dating from the early centuries … [Read more...]