Between Man and Man

In 1923 a small book was published which was to have enormous impact on more than one generation of theologians and philosophers of religion, Christian and Jew alike, as well as on countless laymen. The book was entitled I and Thou; the author was Martin Buber. Its main point was that all real life is encounter or meeting, to which a man must bring his whole being, his genuine self. This concern with dialogue has marked all Buber’s subsequent works. Between Man and Man takes this dialogical principle and in five related essays applies it to critical problems of modern life, such as politics and education.

MARTIN BUBER was born in Vienna in 1878. Educated at the universities of Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig, and Zurich, he became editor of the Vienna Welt, a Zionist periodical. In 1916 he founded Der Jude, which rapidly became the principal voice of German-speaking Jewry and which he edited until 1924. He taught at the University of Frankfurt and directed the educational activities of the Jewish community there during the Nazi rise to power. In 1938 Buber left Germany for Jerusalem, where he was named professor of social philosophy at the Hebrew University. His works include books on Hasidism and Zionism as well as philosophy.