cover image Martin Buber and the Eternal

Martin Buber and the Eternal

Maurice S. Friedman. Human Sciences Press, $0 (191pp) ISBN 978-0-89885-284-4

Buber's famous distinction between a reciprocal, open ""I-Thou'' relationship and the much more common ``I-It'' interactions that pass for real communication between people is central to his thought. Most conversations today are speechifying before a ``a fictitious court of appeal,'' he insisted. ``Making the other present,'' empathizing with what another person is feeling and thinking, is a very rare event according to this Jewish mystic. Friedman, author of the definitive three-volume biography of Buber, shows how his ethics are rooted in a belief that peole enjoy the freedom of action unmodified by original sin or fate. Buber the Jewish existentialist emerges as a thinker of the stature of Kierkegaard, but one who emphasized our direct relationship with God. This thoroughgoing study of his religious philosophy makes us see that ``salvation'' for Buber meant relatedness to others and divine revelation in the here-and-now. (June)