من و تو

I AND THOU by MARTIN BUBER TRANSLATORS INTRODUCTION HIS work in its original, German form has already, since its publication fourteen years ago, exercised on the Continent an influence, quite out of proportion to its slender size. In view of this influence alone it may be affirmed that I and Thou will rank as one of the epochmaking books of our generation. It has hitherto been comparatively unknown among Englishspeaking students of philosophy and theology. I and Thou is to be understood in the context of Bubers previous intensive study, chiefly of Jewish mystical writings. It is not an isolated phenomenon among his works, but represents the culmination of the intensely religious interest that characterises them all. It is, indeed, philosophical but it is not an academic work of discursive philosophy. It is mystical, but it belongs to what PringlePattison has termed the higher Mysticism of real communion with God, as distinguished from the debased1 mysticism that sub stitutes for the real present world a world of illusory delights, where absorption in the Diym is experi enced. The decrying of mysticism as a whole, fashion able today among Protestant writers, has a weighty retort in the present work. For an indubitably real mystical experience is here set forth, not with contempt for the means of human expression but with finished and delicate power. For this reason, though we might call and Thou a philosophicalreligious poem, it belongs essentially to no single specialised class of learned work. It has a direct appeal to all those who are interested in living religious experience rather than in theological debates and the rise and fall of philosophical schools. It has first and foremost to be judged on its intrinsic meritsby the impact, that is to say, which it makes on our actual, responsible life, as persons and as groups, in the modern world. This immediate value of Bubers work becomes clear if we consider its main thesis. There is, Buber shows, a radical difference between a mans attitude to other men and his attitude to things. The attitude to other men is a relation between persons, to things it is a connexion with objects. In the personal relation one subject I confronts another subjectThou, in the connexion with things the subject contemplates and experiences an object. These two attitudes represent the basic twofold situation of human life, the former constituting the. world of Thou , and the latter the world of It The content and relation of these two worlds is the theme of and Thou. The other person, the Thou, ,is shown to be a realitythat is, it is given to me, but it is not bounded by me: Thou has no bounds the 1 Though the second person singular pronoun has almost dis appeared from modern English usage, it remains in one important spherein prayer. By its retention in the English text, therefore, far from suggesting an obscure situation, it keeps the whole thought iii the personal and responsible sphere in which alone it is truly to be understood. TJiou cannot be appropriated, but I am brought up short against it.

today Considered A Landmark Of Twentieth-century Intellectual History, i And Thou Is Also One Of The Most Important Books Of Western Theology. In It, Martin Buber, Heavily Influenced By The Writings Of Frederich Nietzsche, United The Proto-existentialists Currents Of Modern German Thought With The Judeo-christian Tradition, Powerfully Updating Faith For Modern Times. Since Its First Appearance In German In 1923, This Slender Volume Has Become One Of The Epoch-making Works Of Our Time. Not Only Does It Present The Best Thinking Of One Of The Greatest Jewish Minds In Centuries, But Has Helped To Mold Approaches To Reconciling God With The Workings Of The Modern World And The Consciousness Of Its Inhabitants.

This Work Is The Centerpiece Of Buber's Groundbreaking Philosophy. It Lays Out A View Of The World In Which Human Beings Can Enter Into Relationships Using Their Innermost And Whole Being To Form True Partnerships. These Deep Forms Of Rapport Contrast With Those That Spring From The Industrial Revolution, Namely The Common, But Basically Unethical, Treatment Of Others As Objects For Our Use And The Incorrect View Of The Universe As Merely The Object Of Our Senses, Experiences. Buber Goes On To Demonstrate How These Interhuman Meetings Are A Reflection Of The Human Meeting With God. For Buber, The Essence Of Biblical Religion Consists In The Fact That — Regardless Of The Infinite Abyss Between Them — A Dialogue Between Man And God Is Possible.

Ecumenical In Its Appeal, i And Thou Nevertheless Reflects The Profound Talmudic Tradition From Which It Has Emerged. For Judaism, Buber's Writings Have Been Of Revolutionary Importance. No Other Writer Has So Shaken Judaism From Parochialism And Applied It So Relevantly To The Problems And Concerns Of Contemporary Men. On The Other Hand, The Fundamentalist Protestant Movement In This Country Has Appropriated Buber's I And Thou Encounter As The Implicit Basis Of Its Doctrine Of Immediate Faith-based Salvation. In This Light, Martin Buber Has Been Viewed As The Jewish Counterpart To Paul Tillich.

This Is The Original English Translation, Available In America Only In This Hardcover Edition Of i And Thou. Martin Buber Considered Ronald Smith's The Best Of The English Translations And It Was Prepared In The Author's Presence. The More Poetic Rendering, This Translation Can Be Looked At As The King James Version Of Buber's i And Thou.

"Martin Buber, heavily influenced by the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, unites the proto-Existentialist currents of modern German thought with the Judeo-Christian tradition, powerfully updating faith for modern times.". "This work is the centerpiece of Buber's philosophy. It lays out a view of the world in which human beings can enter into relationships using their innermost and whole being to form true partnerships. These deep forms of rapport contrast with those that spring from the Industrial Revolution, namely the common, but basically unethical, treatment of others as objects for our use and the incorrect view of the universe as merely the object of our senses' experiences. Buber goes on to demonstrate how these interhuman meetings are a reflection of the human meeting with God. For Buber, the essence of biblical religion consists in the fact that - regardless of the infinite abyss between them - a dialogue between man and God is possible."--BOOK JACKET.