MYSTICAL TEXTS

"Starting from a careful definition of mysticism, this volume argues that there is clear evidence for the practice of mysticism in the Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Philip Alexander offers a close reading of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, the Self-Glorification Hymn, and related texts, which constitute the Qumran mystical corpus. He discusses the nature of the mystical experience at Qumran and also argues that the presence of mysticism there has important implications for the history of western mysticism."--BOOK JACKET.