Guillaume Postel's 'Idea of the Zohar'

Following Boaz Huss's coinage of an 'Idea of the Zohar', I focus in this paper on the 'Idea of the Zohar' held by the Kabbalistic Christian Guillaume Postel (1510-1581). Postel regarded the Zohar as an ultimate expression of his entire theological and messianic thought, and therefore he produced two Latin annotated translations of this treatise. Relying on a close analysis of the Incipit he attached to the earlier translation completed in early 1554 (BL ms. Slaone 1410, fol. 1r), I sketch Postel's unique concepts regarding the Zohar, both as a text and as a divine essence, showing how his description of the Zohar's provenance and circulation sheds light on his particular 'Idea of the Zohar'.