And They Shall Be One Flesh : on the Language of Mystical Union in Judaism

"In "And They Shall Be One Flesh: On the Language of Mystical Union in Judaism", Adam Afterman offers for the first time an extensive study of mystical union and embodiment in Judaism. Afterman argues that Philo was the first to articulate the notion of unio mystica in Judaism and in monotheism and is the source of the henōsis mysticism in the later Neoplatonic tradition. The study provides a detailed analysis of the Jewish medieval trends that developed different forms of mystical union and mystical embodiment through the Holy Spirit. The book argues that the development of unitive mysticism in Judaism is the fruit of substantial moments of openness, not only to Greek and Arab philosophy but also to Islam and Christianity"--