Gender, Kabbalah and the Reformation: The Mystical Theology of Guillaume Postel (1510-1581)

This study examines the thought of Guillaume Postel (1510-1581), a French religious thinker who relied on Jewish Kabbalah and its mystical understanding of gender to argue that a female messiah had arrived who would heal the political and religious conflicts of sixteenth-century Europe.

Acknowledgements Preface Introduction
1. History, Prophecy and Mysticism
2. The Formation of Postel's Theology
3. Postel on Gender, Politics and the French Monarchy
4. Postel and Renaissance Kabbalah
5. Mother Joanna, Joan of Arc and the Virgin Mary
6. Body, Soul and the Sacraments
7. Postel and the Querelle des Femmes
8. Gender and the Reformation Conclusion Bibliography Index