Martin Buber's stature as the most significant Jewish religious philosopher of the twentieth century is reinforced by his accomplishments and renown in areas as diverse as Hasidism, psychotherapy, education, folklore, and politics. He wrote on every subject in mankind's sociocultural spectrum and achieved a synthesis that brought Western thought genuinely closer to an understanding of the whole of human existence. Among his classics, known and studied all over the world, are I and Thou, The Knowledge of Man, Tales of the Hasidim, The Way of Man, and For the Sake of Heaven.
But more than any other philosopher or thinker, Martin Buber was a wise person and a teacher who pointed the way for others. Through his personal response to each situation in his life, he pointed not toward a safe, broad philosophical system, but toward a life of encounter out along the windswept points of a narrow, rocky ridge. In his complete and masterful biography of the man, Maurice Friedman relates the full panorama of Buber's active human presence including the early loss of his mother, the influence of his father and grandparents, his education in turn-of-the-century Vienna, his Zionism, encounters with Hasidism, and his sixty-year, deeply felt marriage to Paula Buber. It also depicts the impact of World War I on his life; his work in education, community, and politics between the wars; his espousal of decentralized federal socialism; his more than forty years of fighting for Jewish-Arab understanding; and his leadership of the spiritual resistance to the Nazis in Hitler Germany. In addition, we see Buber win the peace prize of the German book trade after World War II; his advocacy of nuclear disarmament; his attacks on Heidegger, Sartre, and Jung for contributing to the eclipse of God; his many conflicts with Ben-Gurion in the interests of the greater peace; and his meetings and influence in psychotherapy, education, and sociology.
Through his close relationship with Buber and recent access to forty-five thousand unpublished letters, Maurice Friedman recreates Buber's vitality, his philosophy of dialogue, and his spirituality based on a personal relationship with God. Friedman's chronicle of Buber's encounters includes an angry visit to Gestapo headquarters in 1933 to get his passport reinstated, as well as his intimate friendships with Hermann Hesse, Gustav Landauer, and Franz Rosenzweig, and his relationships with his wife, children, and grandchildren. Throughout Encounter on the Narrow Ridge, Friedman delivers the essential spontaneity of a great man who saw in every encounter a focal point for human growth.
But more than any other philosopher or thinker, Martin Buber was a wise person and a teacher who pointed the way for others. Through his personal response to each situation in his life, he pointed not toward a safe, broad philosophical system, but toward a life of encounter out along the windswept points of a narrow, rocky ridge. In his complete and masterful biography of the man, Maurice Friedman relates the full panorama of Buber's active human presence including the early loss of his mother, the influence of his father and grandparents, his education in turn-of-the-century Vienna, his Zionism, encounters with Hasidism, and his sixty-year, deeply felt marriage to Paula Buber. It also depicts the impact of World War I on his life; his work in education, community, and politics between the wars; his espousal of decentralized federal socialism; his more than forty years of fighting for Jewish-Arab understanding; and his leadership of the spiritual resistance to the Nazis in Hitler Germany. In addition, we see Buber win the peace prize of the German book trade after World War II; his advocacy of nuclear disarmament; his attacks on Heidegger, Sartre, and Jung for contributing to the eclipse of God; his many conflicts with Ben-Gurion in the interests of the greater peace; and his meetings and influence in psychotherapy, education, and sociology.
Through his close relationship with Buber and recent access to forty-five thousand unpublished letters, Maurice Friedman recreates Buber's vitality, his philosophy of dialogue, and his spirituality based on a personal relationship with God. Friedman's chronicle of Buber's encounters includes an angry visit to Gestapo headquarters in 1933 to get his passport reinstated, as well as his intimate friendships with Hermann Hesse, Gustav Landauer, and Franz Rosenzweig, and his relationships with his wife, children, and grandchildren. Throughout Encounter on the Narrow Ridge, Friedman delivers the essential spontaneity of a great man who saw in every encounter a focal point for human growth.
