All the Names of the Lord: Lists, Mysticism, and Magic

251 Pages·2008·2.41 MB·English

by  Valentina Izmirlieva

allthe namesofthelord

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all the names of the lord
Lists,Mysticism,andMagic
valentina izmirlieva
the university of chicago press
chicago and london
valentinaizmirlievaisassociateprofessorintheSlavicDepartmentat
ColumbiaUniversity.
ThisbookisavolumeintheseriesStudiesoftheHarrimanInstitute,
ColumbiaUniversity.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
(cid:1)C 2008byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.Published2008
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13:978-0-226-38870-0(cloth)
isbn-10:0-226-38870-0(cloth)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Izmirlieva,Valentina.
AllthenamesoftheLord:lists,mysticism,andmagic/ValentinaIzmirlieva.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn-13:978-0-226-38870-0(cloth:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-226-38870-0(cloth:alk.paper) 1. God(Christianity)—Name.
I. Title.
BT180.N2I96 2008
231—dc22
2007044616
(cid:1)∞ Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofthe
AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperfor
PrintedLibraryMaterials,ansiz39.48-1992.
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for tom
SilverandgoldIhavenone,
butwhatIhaveIgiveyou.
—Acts3:6
Alllanguage...restsonasinglename,neverinitselfproferable[sic]:
thenameofGod.Containedinallpropositions,itnecessarilyremains
unsaidineach.
—GiorgioAgamben,“TheIdeaoftheName”
AllhasbecomenamesbytheMiddleAges,andearlier.
—JoshuaTrachtenberg,JewishMagicandSuperstition
ListsmixGodandgrocer;theyaredivinelygrocerlyandgrocerlydivine,
invariableproportions.
—FrancisSpufford,TheChattoBookofCabbagesandKings
Anyonewhotriestogettothebottomofeverythingisslidingdowna
dangerousslope.
—Flaubert,BouvradandPe´cuchet
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contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
DivineNamesasTermsofOrder 2
WhatKindofOrder? 4
ListsasFiguresofDisplay 6
WhatIsSymbolicProductionofOrder? 7
TheMaterial 9
PartOne:TheClaimofTheology:“NamelessandofEveryName”
1. TheDivineNamesandDionysiustheAreopagite 17
MythandMystification 17
TheExegetes 19
TheTranslators 20
DisputedAuthorshipandIndisputableAuthority 22
2. BacktotheSources 26
TheBibleandtheName 27
TheTroublewithLogos 30
TheTwoRoads,ortheNatureofDivineNames 32
3. TheSynthesisofDionysius 37
TheDionysianVision 37
TheTheologicalProject 40
UnitedDifferentiations 43
AHierarchyofNames 46
NamelessandofEveryName 49
vii
viii contents
4. TheoryandPractice 51
BiblicalExegesis 51
TheProperNameofGodIsaList 53
ListingtheNamesofGod 56
PartTwo:AMagicalAlternative:The72NamesofGod
5. HowManyAretheNamesofGod? 69
TheNumberofGod’sNames 70
TheLargerContext 74
TheSynonymyof72and70 77
6. ABodyof72Partsandthe72Diseases 79
7. AnApostleforEveryNation 84
TheDivisionoftheLanguagesatBabel 85
TheSeptuagint 88
The72DisciplesofChrist 89
TheIdealQuorum 92
8. ThePeculiarCodexJerusalem22 97
TheFacts 98
AKabbalisticHypothesis 99
TheBalkanContext 100
ThreePossibleKabbalisticIndices 104
TheEmphasison72 109
KabbalahandtheWorldof72Parts 112
9. ChristianCultureandthe72Names 117
KabbalahinChristianGarb 117
TheChristianAmuletEastandWest 123
10. PrintingandtheCareeroftheSlavonicText 132
TheMiscellanyforTravelersandtheRemakingoftheText 133
TheSpectacularAftermath 135
BuildingTextualAffinities 138
CommercialSuccess 140
TheAbagarofPhilipStanislavov 145
Epilogue 151
TwoVisionsofOrder 152
Religion,Need,andDesire:AReorientation 154
TheDangerofClosures 158
Notes161 Bibliography207 Index225
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acknowledgments
Thisbook,likeababymonster,wasingestationforfifteenlongyears,
during which it accumulated many debts. Some of the people who
helpedmenurseittolifearenolongerheretoacceptmyacknowledgments;
others are probably so tired of the book that they would not want to hear
anymoreaboutit.Ishouldknowbetterthantolistalltheirnamesinabook
thatregardscomprehensivelistsasprecariouslyambitious.Conformingto
therulesofthegame,Iwillmentiononlysome.Allofthem—thenameless
withthenamed—havemydeepestgratitude.
Severalpeoplewereinstrumentalintheconceptionofthisproject:my
firstteacherofthingsmedieval,KrassimirStantchev(Rome),whointroduced
me to Dionysius the Areopagite; Klimentina Ivanova (Sofia), who taught
methejoyofworkingwithSlavonicmanuscriptsandmuchmore;thelate
Klaus-DieterSeemann(Berlin),who,byinvitingmetoparticipateinacon-
ference on the “neglected” medieval genres, inadvertently pointed me in
the direction of names and lists; and David Tracy (Chicago), who gave me
notonlythegiftofhiswisdom,butalsothecouragetopursuemystudies
far afield, into that inhospitable land which Theodore Adorno once called
“theicydesertofabstraction.”
Two teachers at the University of Chicago, Norman Ingham and Paul
Friedrich,helpedmematureasascholarbyencouragingmetofollowtwo
disparate paths of exploring naming and listmaking: medieval Slavic let-
ters and tropology. Two other distinguished members of the University of
Chicagocommunity,BernardMcGinnandJamesFernandez,thoughnever
myteachersdirectly,shapedmuchofmythinkingonthisprojectwiththeir
owninspiredwriting.Lastinaseriesofbinarylists,Ishouldalsoacknowl-
edgetwoseminarsthatenrichedmyunderstandingofreligiouspracticesand
everydayworship,leavinganimprintonmuchofmylaterwork.In1998–99
ix