Martin Buber: The Hidden Dialogue

(Paperback)

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In Martin Buber: The Hidden Dialogue, Dan Avnon analyzes and reconstructs Buber's corpus of mature writings. Avnon's novel reading of Buber's diverse writings on the Bible, Christianity, Judaism, philosophy, socialism, Zionism, and the Jewish-Arab conflict is based on his discovery of a hidden code of writing that grants Buber's apparently eclectic works and literary styles a coherent and unifying hermeneutic center.

Reviews

This is a fine 'ab intra' journey that accompanies Buber to the hidden source of Israel's heart, forever covered up by Jacob's descendants and modern, merely clever philosophers. The journey unseals the heart of Buber's mature summons to world history, his subversive prophecy, and Avnon's tough querying of an anguished cry from an open heart. -- Elliott Levine, University of Winnipeg
By taking Buber's way of interpreting the Hebrew Bible through "guiding words" [teaching, testimony, disciples, opening the heart, turning] and applying it to Buber's own writings, Dan Avnon has discovered an essential core of Buber's thought. This core unites Buber's seemingly disparate work in interpreting the Hebrew Bible, retelling Hasidic tales, pointing toward the life of dialogue, restructuring society toward a "community of communities," and Zionism. Martin Buber: The Hidden Dialogue is a bold and exciting book that will fascinate not only readers the world over who are familiar with Buber's work but also many who do not yet know Buber yet are, like him, seekers of the 'hidden light.' -- Maurice Friedman, author of Encounter on the Narrow Ridge: A Life of Martin Buber
Avnon's book will inspire more readers to encounter Buber in this way. * Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Jewish Studies *
This book will be of value to those with a substantial interest in Buber. -- Michael A. Principe * Philosophy in Review *

Author Bio

Dan Avon is Senior Lecturer of Political Science at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the editor of The Israeli Parties Law: Between a Legal Framework and Democratic Norms and The government of Israel (with Itzhak Galnoor), as well as the author of many articles and the script for In Search of the Lost Tribes (a 13 part documentary aired on Israel's Independent Television, 1996).