Kambiz GhaneaBassiri is Professor of Religion at Carleton College, USA.Paul Robertson is Lecturer in Classics, Humanities, and Italian Studies at the University of New Hampshire, USA.

Whether you are a sceptic or a believer, or both, you will find new trajectories of religion charted in this capacious book. A major, unparalleled achievement.

• Notes on ContributorsAcknowledgments 1. Introducing Wasserstrom’s Work on Religion, Kambiz GhaneaBassiri (Reed College, USA)2. Nine Theses on the Study of Religion, Steven M. Wasserstrom (Reed College, USA)Part One: Conversing 3. Anxiety, Lament, and the Language of Silence: Poetic Redemption and Gnostic Alienation, Elliot R. Wolfson (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)4. The Study of Religion in a Postmetaphysical Age: Philosophical and Political Reflections, Peter E. Gordon (Harvard University, USA)5. Taxonomy Is Epistemology: Theorizing Religion and Hermeticism Polythetically with Wasserstrom’s Theses, Paul Robertson (University of New Hampshire, USA)6. Metrosophy: Rereading Walter Benjamin in Light of Religion after Religion, Jeremy F. Walton (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany)7. ‘La Perversión de la Cábala Judía’: Gershom Scholem and anti-Kabbalistic Polemic in the Argentine Catholic Nationalism of Julio Meinvielle, Jeremy P. Brown (McGill University, Canada)Part Two: Mediating8. Before Religion? The Zoroastrian Concept of Daena and Two Myths about It, Bruce Lincoln (University of Chicago Divinity School, USA)9. Nag Hammadi at Eranos: Rediscovering Gnosticism among the Historians of Religions, J. Gregory Given (Harvard University, USA)10. Where the Center of the Rupture Is Called Judaism: Maurice Blanchot and Religion after Religion, Kirsten Collins (University of Chicago, USA)11. Abrahamic Encounters in the Weimar Wüste, Ruchama Johnston-Bloom (CAPA, The Global Education Network, UK)12. Far Too Close: Religion and Reality in the Work of Erich Auerbach and Muhammad Asad, Sam Kigar (University of Puget Sound, USA)Part Three: Rethinking13. Is Sethian Gnosticism an Abrahamic Religion? Abraham, Sodom, and the Parabiblical in Ancient Gnostic Literature, Dylan M. Burns (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)14. The Repentant Magician: “Esoteric Intimacies” and the Enchantment of Religious Difference, Noah Salomon (Carleton College, USA)15. On the Possibility of Jewish Politics in Our Time: Scholem, Exile, and Early Modern Transformations, Anne Oravetz Albert (University of Pennsylvania, USA)16. Medieval Spanish Jews and the Dangers of Wealth, Andrew Berns (University of South Carolina, USA)17. Luksus and the Hasidic Critique of Postwar American Capitalism, Michael Casper (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)Epilogue: Nine Riddles, Steven M. Wasserstrom (Reed College, USA)NotesPublications of Steven M. WasserstromBibliographyIndex

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri is Professor of Religion at Carleton College, USA.Paul Robertson is Lecturer in Classics, Humanities, and Italian Studies at the University of New Hampshire, USA.

Whether you are a sceptic or a believer, or both, you will find new trajectories of religion charted in this capacious book. A major, unparalleled achievement.

• Notes on ContributorsAcknowledgments 1. Introducing Wasserstrom’s Work on Religion, Kambiz GhaneaBassiri (Reed College, USA)2. Nine Theses on the Study of Religion, Steven M. Wasserstrom (Reed College, USA)Part One: Conversing 3. Anxiety, Lament, and the Language of Silence: Poetic Redemption and Gnostic Alienation, Elliot R. Wolfson (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)4. The Study of Religion in a Postmetaphysical Age: Philosophical and Political Reflections, Peter E. Gordon (Harvard University, USA)5. Taxonomy Is Epistemology: Theorizing Religion and Hermeticism Polythetically with Wasserstrom’s Theses, Paul Robertson (University of New Hampshire, USA)6. Metrosophy: Rereading Walter Benjamin in Light of Religion after Religion, Jeremy F. Walton (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany)7. ‘La Perversión de la Cábala Judía’: Gershom Scholem and anti-Kabbalistic Polemic in the Argentine Catholic Nationalism of Julio Meinvielle, Jeremy P. Brown (McGill University, Canada)Part Two: Mediating8. Before Religion? The Zoroastrian Concept of Daena and Two Myths about It, Bruce Lincoln (University of Chicago Divinity School, USA)9. Nag Hammadi at Eranos: Rediscovering Gnosticism among the Historians of Religions, J. Gregory Given (Harvard University, USA)10. Where the Center of the Rupture Is Called Judaism: Maurice Blanchot and Religion after Religion, Kirsten Collins (University of Chicago, USA)11. Abrahamic Encounters in the Weimar Wüste, Ruchama Johnston-Bloom (CAPA, The Global Education Network, UK)12. Far Too Close: Religion and Reality in the Work of Erich Auerbach and Muhammad Asad, Sam Kigar (University of Puget Sound, USA)Part Three: Rethinking13. Is Sethian Gnosticism an Abrahamic Religion? Abraham, Sodom, and the Parabiblical in Ancient Gnostic Literature, Dylan M. Burns (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)14. The Repentant Magician: “Esoteric Intimacies” and the Enchantment of Religious Difference, Noah Salomon (Carleton College, USA)15. On the Possibility of Jewish Politics in Our Time: Scholem, Exile, and Early Modern Transformations, Anne Oravetz Albert (University of Pennsylvania, USA)16. Medieval Spanish Jews and the Dangers of Wealth, Andrew Berns (University of South Carolina, USA)17. Luksus and the Hasidic Critique of Postwar American Capitalism, Michael Casper (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)Epilogue: Nine Riddles, Steven M. Wasserstrom (Reed College, USA)NotesPublications of Steven M. WasserstromBibliographyIndex