Hope for Our Time: Key Trends in the Thought of Martin Buber »

Martin Buber's work ranged across disciplines and modes of expression to include philosophy, religion, social studies, and literature. Buber never presented a comprehensive statement of his worldview in any of his central works and repeated time and again that he had no "doctrine". In this book, Avraham Shapira traces the history of Buber's ideas and locates underlying structures which unite Buber's thought. Ultimately, Hope for Our Time shows the connection between Buber's philosophy and his spiritual biography.

Booknews

Based on his 1984 doctoral dissertation identifying dual structures in the thought of Jewish philosopher Martin Buber (1878-1965), Shapira (still at Tel-aviv U.) examines Buber's concept of I-thou, I- it polarity to reconcile various dichotomies: his mystical and dialogical stages<-->with Shapira positing a transitional conversion stage; the existential duality that characterizes modern "lived experience"; distance-relation; vortex-direction; and moment-eternity. Dedicated to the memory of leading contemporary Jewish studies scholar Alexander Altmann. Translated from the Hebrew . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)