The Martin Buber Reader

Martin Buber was professor of the history of religions and Jewish religion and ethics from 1923 to 1933 at the University of Frankfurt. He resigned in 1933 after Hitler came to power, and immigrated to Israel where he taught at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Buber wrote numerous books during his lifetime (1878-1965) and is best known for "I and Thou" and "Good and Evil". His philosophy of dialogue that is, the "I-Thou" relationship which affirms each individual as being of unique value is extremely well known and has influenced important Protestant theologians like Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr. It seems that there is no genuine understanding of contemporary Jewish and Christian theology without reference to Martin Buber. He is renowned not only for his translations of the Old Testament but also for his interpretation of Hasidism, his role in Zionism and his writings in both psychotherapy and political philosophy.