Building Genuine Community emphasizes a notion of a community in which people are bound together by a common life situation and a common purpose without using that common purpose as an exclusionary factor that distinguishes between those who belong and those who do not belong to the community. Without being scholarly, technical, or obscure, Building Genuine Community lays the foundation for true community, which is "the seeking need of the age." True community is difficult to define. What makes some communities thrive and others fail? True community is not an ideal or a specific goal. Rather, it is a twofold direction of movement-a movement within each particular structure of family, community, and society to discover the maximum possibilities of the confirmation of individuals as true others within that structure, as well as a movement from structure to structure toward more genuine community. Building Genuine Community proposes nothing less than to do away with the old and tired polarities of the individual versus society, individualism versus collectivism, competition versus cooperation, and free enterprise versus socialism. In place of all these ideals, this treatise confirms that otherness is the only meaningful direction of movement for friendship, marriage, family, community, and society within a democracy.

Professor Friedman explores the rich tapestry of our humanness as we strive to find meaning in our experiences, even in the midst of the evil and death that threaten to put an end to it all. This struggle is vividly captured in literary and poetic works that epitomise what Friedman describes as our effort to hold the tension between affirming where we can affirm and withstanding where we must withstand.

Martin Buber: The Life of Dialogue, the first study in any language to provide a complete overview of Buber's thought, remains the definitive guide to the full range of his work and the starting point for all modern Buber scholarship. Maurice S. Friedman reveals the implications of Buber's thought for theory of knowledge, education, philosophy, myth, history and Judaic and Christian belief.
This fully revised and expanded fourth edition includes a new preface from the author, an expanded bibliography incorporating new Buber scholarship, and two new appendices in the form of essays on Buber's influence on Emmanuel Levinas and Mikhail Bakhtin.

eBook available with sample pages: 020339819X

Martin Buber: The Life of Dialogue, the first study in any language to provide a complete overview of Buber's thought, remains the definitive guide to the full range of his work and the starting point for all modern Buber scholarship. Maurice S. Friedman reveals the implications of Buber's thought for theory of knowledge, education, philosophy, myth, history and Judaic and Christian belief.
This fully revised and expanded fourth edition includes a new preface from the author, an expanded bibliography incorporating new Buber scholarship, and two new appendices in the form of essays on Buber's influence on Emmanuel Levinas and Mikhail Bakhtin.

Translated by:
Maurice Friedman

Synopsis: Most studies of Abraham Joshua Heschel approach him as a theologian, whereas this book peers behind the theologian and honors Heschel as the original philosopher that he was. So it unearths Heschel's epistemology, his aesthetic, and his social philosophy, all reinforced by the thirty years of friendship and dialogue that Maurice Friedman shared with him. This book raises significantly critical questions concerning Heschel's philosophy of Judaism while remaining greatly appreciative of the sweep and command of his philosophy that Friedman believes were not sufficiently worked through. Endorsements: "In Abraham Joshua Heschel, Maurice Friedman, the disciple and foremost interpreter of Martin Buber, has given us a lucid and deeply personal account of his unique friendship with Abraham Heschel, the most creative Jewish thinker of the twentieth century. Friedman's love for Heschel can be seen throughout the book in spite of the fact that these two philosophers held different views on religion and Judaism. Friedman helps us understand why Heschel is considered by many to be the Jewish saint of his generation." --Harold Kasimow, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Grinnell College "Few of us get to experience a meaningful relationship with a great spiritual teacher, such as Friedman did with Heschel. I found this book to provide wonderfully rich insights into Heschel's lived wisdom and moral grandeur. Abraham Joshua Heschel provides an evocative account of the dialogical interactions between these remarkable thinkers." --Kenneth P. Kramer, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religious Studies, San Jose State University "Maurice Friedman gives us a beautiful, inspiring portrait of his relationship with my father over the course of many decades. His book is a superb introduction to my father's life and thought and is filled with love and admiration." --Susannah Heschel, Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College Author Biography: Maurice S. Friedman was Professor Emeritus of Religion, Philosophy, and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University. He is the author or editor of over fifty books, including a translation of Martin Buber's Hasidism and Modern Man (2005) and Abraham Joshua Heschel & Elie Wiesel, You Are My Witnesses (1987).

Building Genuine Community emphasizes a notion of a community in which people are bound together by a common life situation and a common purpose without using that common purpose as an exclusionary factor that distinguishes between those who belong and those who do not belong to the community. Without being scholarly, technical, or obscure, Building Genuine Community lays the foundation for true community, which is "the seeking need of the age." True community is difficult to define. What makes some communities thrive and others fail? True community is not an ideal or a specific goal. Rather, it is a twofold direction of movement-a movement within each particular structure of family, community, and society to discover the maximum possibilities of the confirmation of individuals as true others within that structure, as well as a movement from structure to structure toward more genuine community. Building Genuine Community proposes nothing less than to do away with the old and tired polarities of the individual versus society, individualism versus collectivism, competition versus cooperation, and free enterprise versus socialism. In place of all these ideals, this treatise confirms that otherness is the only meaningful direction of movement for friendship, marriage, family, community, and society within a democracy.