"Ascensions on High took on many forms in Jewish mysticism and permeated most of its history from its inception until Hasidism. The book surveys the various categories, with an emphasis on the architectural images of the ascent, like the resort to images of pillars, lines, and ladders." "After surveying the variety of scholarly approaches to religion, the author also offers what he proposes as an eclectic approach, as well as a perspectivist one. The latter seeks to examine religious phenomena from a variety of perspectives. In the specific case of this book, the author interrogates the issue of the pillar in Jewish mysticism by comparing it to the archaic resort to pillars, recurring in rural societies."--BOOK JACKET.