The Religious Thought of Hasidism: Text and Commentary offers a corrective to the prevailing impression of early Hasidism as incorrigibly and profoundly unitellectual. It presents annotated translations of selected passages arranged according to topic. Introductory sections provide an overview and a context for the material in each chapter, and a general introduction does the same for the volume as a whole. It sketches the historical background of the early hasidic movement, charts its central ideas in their intellectual and historical context--the wide range of Jewish religious and mystical thought. Unrivaled in its scope Religious Thought is a veritable encyclopedia of hasidic religious thought, covering all of the major topics and major hasidic thinkers of the first three generations, with occasional forays into later currents. It can be used as either a text or a supplement in courses in Jewish thought or theology, or even general courses in mystical thought or modern religious movements.