Buber on God and the Perfect Man

'An exemplary achievement ... a major contribution to the understanding of the teaching of Martin Buber and to a definition of its possible present relevance.'
Uriel Tal, Journal of Jewish Studies

Pamela Vermes has written a thought-provoking, enlightening, and moving work that reaffirms Buber's remarkable breadth of intellect and shows how he has drawn on Jewish culture and ideas to point the way to a 'life lived religiously' by both secularists and the religious. Unlike the many commentators who have relegated Buber's Judaism to a mere question of biography, she demonstrates how he drew not only on the Bible but on Targum and Midrash, as well as on the wisdom of the hasidic masters of eastern Europe.

Buber himself was well aware of these influences and recognized that his thought and the culture he drew it from were indivisible. But he was also dissatisfied with institutionalized religion, and Pamela Vermes emphasizes the important distinction he made between religiosity (the devout personal response) and religion (institutionalized forms). It is perhaps because of this distinction that Buber's ideas have been so powerful beyond the world of Judaism. His seminal work Ich und Du has profoundly influenced Christian as well as Jewish theology.

Pamela Vermes's account of Buber's career and his principal writings, first published in America in 1980 in the Brown Judaic Studies series, is lucid and fresh. Her sensitive translations present key terms in helpful ways that allow for new interpretations and render this study an excellent survey of Buber's influence on theological thought. This new edition includes an updated bibliography of Buber's writings.

Pamela Vermes: In Memoriam
Bibliography of Pamela Vermes
Preface to the first edition
Prologue
Part 1 In Search of the Real Buber
1 Formative Encounters (1878-1903) 2 Early Writings (1904-1923) 3 I and You (1923) 4 Bible Translation and Emigration to Palestine (1924-1939) 5 War Years (1939-1948) 6 The Last Two Decades (1948-1965) 7 Findings
Part 2 'God is our Model', Said the Jew
8 I Am There 9 Presence and Word in Targum and Midrash 10 The Likeness of the Glory of YHWH 11 This I and You is Enough for the World
Part 3 I Perceived the Idea of the Perfect Man
12 Imitatio dei 13 The True Helper 14 Religion as Presence 15 Presence as Religiousness 16 I and you 17 The Real and Unified I 18 I and You
Postscript
Appendix: I and You
Select bibliography
Index to biblical, New Testament, and rabbinic references
General index

'An exemplary achievement ... a major contribution to the understanding of the teaching of Martin Buber and to a definition of its possible present relevance.'
Uriel Tal, Journal of Jewish Studies

'The complex nature of Buber's philosophy is sensitively handled and the book is a notable survey of his thought. An extended bibliography makes this book additionally valuable.'
Le'ela

'Abounds in deep insights into human nature . . . a notable contribution towards a contemporary spirituality.'
John Macquarrie, New Blackfriars