Bousset comments fully on Saint Paul's claim to have been 'caught
up into the Third Heaven' and points out that such an experience
was the property of the Rabbinical school to which Saul of Tarsus
had belonged, and was brought over by him from his Jewish past; such
experiences were rare in Orthodox Christianity.[16] According to
Jewish classical tradition but one Rabbi had successfully passed the
test, other aspirants either failing at a preliminary stage, or, if
they persevered, losing their senses permanently. The practice of
this ecstatic ascent ceased among Jews in the second century A.D.
Bousset also gives instances of the soul leaving the body for three
days, and wandering through other worlds, both good and evil, and also
discusses the origin of the bridge which must be crossed to reach
Paradise, both features characteristic of the Owain poem.[17] In fact
the whole study is of immense importance for a critical analysis of
the sources of the romance in question.
And here I would venture to beg the adherents of the 'Celtic' school
to use a little more judgment in their attribution of sources. Visits
to the Otherworld are not always derivations from Celtic Fairy-lore.
Unless I am mistaken the root of this theme is far more deeply
imbedded than in the shifting sands of Folk and Fairy tale.
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