KABBALAH  STUDIES

PhD in Kabbalah Studies

GEA UNIVERSITY OF SAN MARCO


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🎓 Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Kabbalah Studies 


Full Program Outline


🏛️ Host Department

  • Department of Jewish Studies / Interreligious Studies / Faculty of Theology


1. Program Overview

  • Duration: 4–6 years (full-time)
  • Goal: To cultivate scholarly expertise in Kabbalah’s texts, traditions, and interpretive methods from historical, philosophical, and mystical perspectives.


2. Admission Requirements

  • Master’s degree in Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, Theology, Philosophy, or related field
  • Proficiency in:
    • Biblical Hebrew
    • Rabbinic Hebrew
    • Aramaic (preferred)
  • Statement of research interests
  • Academic writing sample


3. Program Structure

Year 1–2: Coursework (Core and Electives)

Core Courses (Required)

  1. Introduction to Kabbalistic Thought
  2. Zohar: Language, Themes, and Interpretations
  3. Medieval Jewish Mysticism (12th–16th centuries)
  4. Lurianic Kabbalah and Safed Mysticism
  5. Modern and Contemporary Kabbalah
  6. Research Methodologies in Jewish Mysticism

Language Seminars

  1. Advanced Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew
  2. Aramaic Texts in Kabbalah
  3. Paleography and Manuscript Reading (optional)

Electives (Choose 3–4)

  • Kabbalah and Philosophy (e.g., Neoplatonism)
  • Comparative Mysticism (Christian, Islamic, Eastern)
  • Hasidic Thought and Kabbalah
  • Gershom Scholem and the Academic Study of Kabbalah
  • Gender and Mysticism
  • Esotericism and Western Thought


4. Comprehensive Exams (End of Year 2 or 3)

  • Written and oral exams covering:
    • Historical development of Kabbalah
    • Major texts and figures (e.g., Zohar, Isaac Luria, Moshe Cordovero)
    • Thematic topics (e.g., sefirot, creation, divine language)
    • Secondary scholarship and historiography


5. Dissertation Proposal (Year 3)

  • Submit detailed proposal outlining:
    • Research question(s)
    • Textual corpus
    • Methodology
    • Scholarly relevance


6. Dissertation Research & Writing (Years 3–6)

  • Examples of dissertation topics:
    • "Divine Speech and Silence in the Zohar"
    • "Mystical Anthropology in Lurianic Kabbalah"
    • "Kabbalah in Early Modern Europe: A Cross-Cultural Approach"
    • "Hasidism and the Transformation of Kabbalistic Motifs"
  • Supervised by faculty expert(s) in Kabbalah/Jewish Mysticism


7. Defense and Completion

  • Public dissertation defense
  • Revisions (if required)
  • Conferral of Ph.D.


8. Additional Academic Activities

  • Teaching Assistantships
  • Conference presentations
  • Language study abroad (e.g., Israel or European archives)
  • Publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals