The Life and Legacy of Martin Buber: Paul Mendes-Flohr in Conversation with Richard Hecht

The Life and Legacy of Martin Buber: Paul Mendes-Flohr in Conversation with Richard Hecht

Paul Mendes-Flohr (Modern Jewish History and Thought, University of Chicago Divinity School)
Monday, February 9 / 7:30 PM
Santa Barbara Hillel, 781 Embarcadero del Mar, Isla Vista

One of the most significant Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century, Martin Buber was born in Vienna (1878) and died in Jerusalem (1965).  His philosophical and theological works, especially I and Thou (1923), reached across the boundaries between Judaism and other religions.  Buber made significant contributions to Jewish thought (in his writings on Hasidism), Jewish philosophy, biblical studies (such as The Prophetic Faith, Moses: The Revelation and Covenant, Kingship of God, and his translation of the Hebrew Bible into German undertaken with Franz Rosenzweig), political theory, depth psychology, education, and Zionism. The conversation will explore many of Buber’s contributions to demonstrate why he continues to occupy such an influential and significant place in modern Judaism.

Paul Mendes-Flohr is the Dorothy Grant Maclear Professor of Modern Jewish History and Thought, University of Chicago Divinity School and Professor Emeritus of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  Together with Bernd Witte, he serves as editor-in-chief of the twenty-two volume German edition of the collected works of Martin Buber. The author or editor of more than 60 publications, he is completing a biography of Martin Buber to be released by Yale University Press.