Dialogically Speaking: Maurice Friedman's Interdisciplinary Humanism

What makes us authentically human? According to Maurice Friedman, world-renowned Martin Buber scholar, translator, and biographer, it is genuine dialogue. "When there's a willingness for dialogue," Friedman says, "then one must 'navigate' moment-by-moment. It's a listening process." Friedman addresses our humanity in ever-unique ways through his dialogue with philosophy, literature, religion, and psychotherapy. At least two things make this book new. Friedman presents his wide-ranging thought directly in five original essays forming an "intertextual compass," which is then elaborated upon by colleagues familiar with his work. Second, a special feature of this book is found at the end of each part which invites readers to engage with questions drawn from and pointing toward Friedman's writing. The book's intended audience includes teachers, scholars, and students interested in dialogical approaches to any of the human sciences. In a time when we are in danger of losing our human birthright, Friedman's interdisciplinary insights point us again to "the touch of the other."

Kenneth Paul Kramer is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religious Studies at San Jose State University, where he taught from 1978 to 2001. He is the author of Redeeming Time: T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets (2007); Martin Buber's I and Thou: Practicing Living Dialogue (2003); Death Dreams: Unveiling Mysteries of the Unconscious Mind (1993); The Sacred Art of Dying (1988); and World Scriptures: An Introduction to Comparative Religions (1986).