Daniel: Dialogues on Realization

Martin Buber Library

by Martin Buber, Maurice Friedman (Translator)

Better than any other single work, Daniel enables us to understand the significance of the transition Buber made from his early mysticism to the philosophy of dialogue. The book is written in the form of five dialogues, in each of which Daniel and his friends explore a crucial philosophical problem--the nature of interconnection of unity, creativity, action, form, and realization as these illuminate the relations of man to God and the world. Daniel occupies a central position in Buber's life work.

98 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship.

Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. In 1902, Buber became the editor of the weekly Die Welt, the central organ of the Zionist movement, although he later withdrew from organizational work in Zionism. In 1923 Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou), and in 1925 he began translating the Hebrew Bible into the German language.

In 1930 Buber became an honorary professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main, and resigned in protest from his professorship immediately after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. He then founded the Central Office for Jewish Adult Education, which became an increasingly important body as the German government forbade Jews to attend public education. In 1938, Buber left Germany and settled in Jerusalem, in the British Mandate of Palestine, receiving a professorship at Hebrew University and lecturing in anthropology and introductory sociology.

Reviews

[Evans]

Just lovely & warrants a reread. Buber’s format here softens & reveals the gray area between point & counterpoint, ultimately melding the two. Less debate, more prosaic, prophetic, poetic, and gorgeous at times. It’s floating the ball from QB to receiver, the soft hands in a clutch basketball play. It’s the oar, violin bow, drumstick floating between the musician & their instrument, the athlete and their vessel. It is so often the surrounding, or leading texts, that reveal the most elegant truths & transitions, sometimes better than an artist’s seminal most identifiable work. At the least, those preliminary or surrounding writings help one understand the more widely known works, better.

[Derek Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel is a lyric and peaceful dialogue which clearly sets the stage (somewhat literally in The Dialogue After the Theatre) for I and Thou. The imagery is quite beautiful and stands on its own nicely as an exploration of the human condition.

[NIGEL PEARCE · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little hard to understand ... but the greater picture is that out of dialogue comes the realization of what we know.

[Adam Gossman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely beautiful.