The Geometrical Kabbalahs of John Dee and Johannes Kepler: The Hebrew Tradition and the Mathematical Study of Nature

Abstract

Renaissance Neoplatonism was marked by a preoccupation with restoring ancient wisdom as a foundation for present and future knowledge. Although its adherents often had divergent and idiosyncratic agendas, there was a consistent emphasis on developing a Christian world view grounded in knowledge of the harmony of God’s creation.1 The Renaissance Neoplatonic synthesis of Christianity and ancient philosophy was significantly reinforced by the discovery of the Kabbalah, the Jewish esoteric tradition. The Kabbalah taught a descending order of creation from the perfection of God to the imperfect material world. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which are also numbers, were the basic units of creation. The notions of creation by descent and numerical harmonies indicated similarities between the Kabbalah and the ideas of Pythagoras and of Plato. The correspondences were believed to demonstrate that both traditions shared a common origin, i.e., divine revelation to Adam, Abraham, or Moses. Renaissance Christians, like Pico della Mirandola, Johannes Reuchlin, and Franciscus Georgius, looked to the Jewish mystical tradition in their attempts to rediscover the wisdom behind the Hebrew scriptures. They also viewed the Kabbalah as the sacred original from which the pagan philosophers derived their knowledge.2