From technique to consciousness: notes on the development of esoteric writing in twelfth-century Jewish thought

During the twelfth century, Jewish thinkers began using an esoterictechnique in their writing, concealing their views under a textual cover. Infact, they created two meanings for the text: one overt and one covert. Thearticle argues that they did so unreflectively at first, without signs ofawareness. A consciousness of esoteric writing took shape during the twelfthcentury and the article shows how, with this growing awareness,concealment techniques became richer.Should a theological or philosophical text written within a religiouscontext necessarily be consistent? Should it be free of contradictions?Certainly not, and especially when it deals with issues the thinker considersabstract, loaded, touching on the most delicate questions of true faith andtranscending easily understandable matters. The contradictions of authorswho have produced outstanding works may be assumed to be deliberaterather than due to negligence since, from these writers’ perspective, they aredirectly concerned with immortality or, God forbid, with annihilation anddisappearance. These are issues that determine whether humans will reachcommunion with God or be rejected and estranged. Tensions andsensitivities prevalent in the religious world only further ambiguous writing.In this article, I examine strains and inconsistencies deliberately usedby considering several techniques of inconsistencies and intentionalcontradictions in twelfth-century Jewish thought, particularly in thewritings of Judah Halevi and Maimonides. I intend to show how esotericwriting moved from the reality of a work based on contradictions to one thatexplicitly details its own contradictory nature. In other words, I want to showhow esoteric writing shifted from practice to consciousness. I will firstremark briefly on the characteristics of esoteric writing in the Middle Ages.