The present volume contains the procectings of a conference of " Writing and the Mystical Experience in the Religions of the Book" held at the Sorbonne in 1994. Though this theme is examined within the Christian and Islamic traditions, most of the contributions touch on this phenomenon in Jewish mysticism in the various stages of its historical development from the Midrash an d Merkabah right down to Luryanis Qabbalah and appear a lang site. Theoretical and methodoligical essays phenomenological studies of particular rituals connected with the mystical experience both in the Jewish and non-Jewish context. Of particular significance are the articles dealing with comparative aspects between Christian, Jewish and Muslim rituals such as baptism or the visitation of tombs.