I and Thou was written by Martin Buber and published in 1923. His work was translated to English in 1937 and reprinted in 2010. Buber was a German religious thinker. He was born in Vienna, Austria in 1878. This book is considered a nonfiction, philosophical book. In my opinion, the book was written for students of religious studies along with philosophy and psychology students.
I and Thou is written in prose format, similar to a poetry book, which containing short reflections and the writings seem to be repetitive and somewhat esoteric.The book is a series of long and short sayings, similar to the book of Proverbs, and it’s divided into three sections. These short sayings are not meant to be read as a linear progression of a larger argument but like Proverbs, they are reflections or thought that are related to each other that point to or speak to the larger argument. Buber’s larger argument can be decipher as we consider all three section of his book. In these three sections he tackles the relationship we currently have with objects and people and the type of relationship we should have. He expands on this idea explaining that we have been engaging the world through the objectification of things and people in the way we interact with them. He then gives a different perspective on how we should engage the world in a healthier way, which does not objectify anything or anyone we engage with.
The first section of the book examines the condition of humans through the psychology of the individual man. Buber, through his writing, forms his theory that man has two ways in which they engage the world. The first mean or mode in which man engages the world, according to Buber, is through “experience” or the “I-it.” This method would be the...
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I must say that this book is a hard read. I am sure that there are many nuances and ideas that I missed along the way. It does take sometime to get accustom to the style of writing since we are some use to the linear approach to reading and seldom do we engage a book written in a poetic or prose structure. I am sure that if I read the book two or three times again, I will find new things that I missed on the first read. This book, in my opinion, is not a book that is written for public consumption, rather I think that this is a niche book and finds a home in the hands of philosophy or religion students who are looking for a challenging yet thought provoking read. For those who might have a hard time understanding the book and the ideas within it, researching the author before reading the book might prove beneficial and add context and background to the readings.
My overall opinion of this book is good I really liked it and recommend it to anyone. It is a good book to read and it keep you interested throughout the whole book.
This is my personal reflection about this book. First and foremost, I would like to say that this book is very thick and long to read. There are about nineteen chapters and 278 pages altogether. As a slow reader, it is a quite hard for me to finish reading it within time. It took me weeks to finish reading it as a whole. Furthermore, it is written in English version. My English is just in average so sometimes I need to refer to dictionary for certain words. Sometimes I use google translate and ask my friends to explain the meaning of certain terms.
Unlike the other books I have read, this book left out a lot of elements like ritual, prayer, clothing, and all of the trappings of religion. I really do not agree with this part of the book. I find this part of religion interesting and I was looking forward to reading and learning about it. I am still not disappointed, but I would have liked the book better if it was expressed.
“For The Bible Tells Me So” by Daniel Karslake is a documentary style film that focuses on issues about sexuality. The film focuses on the conflict between homosexuality and Christianity and the analysing of several Bible verses about homosexuality. The film attempts to alter the minds of homophobes by using facts, science and several interviews with Christians who also have gay children. The interviews are done with five American, very Christian families and “how they handle the realization of having a gay child” (Karslake, 2007.)
The book was a little hard to read and understand. For me, I had to read it several times to completely understand it. Did you like the book or not? Is this book one that you will keep and recommend to others, especially those going through
Father and Son by Bernard McLaverty 'Father and Son' by Bernard McLaverty is a short story which is set in
Only once during the two years that we have him under view, does he venture
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and believe it to be one of the best books I have ever read. It was extremely well written and challenging for me to understand at times. It conveys that dark side of human ambition very well, and it has given me much to think about.
Because this speech is so pregnant with discussion topics, an intrinsic part of the blueprint may not catch the reader's attention or receive the analysis it deserves. It delivers a message that contemporary humans still need to receive. The startling, heretical admonition not to worship or make false idols of books and other objects of art, given in Emerson's "The American Scholar," demonstrates his belief in the vital necessity for self-reliance and active, creative reading and writing. When he exhorts us to live as a scholar, as "Man Thinking," rather than "a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men's thinking" (1530), he is cautioning us against the false idolatry of book or Bible worship.
The novel, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other (2011) written by Sherry Turkle, presents many controversial views, and demonstrating numerous examples of how technology is replacing complex pieces and relationships in our life. The book is slightly divided into two parts with the first focused on social robots and their relationships with people. The second half is much different, focusing on the online world and it’s presence in society. Overall, Turkle makes many personally agreeable and disagreeable points in the book that bring it together as a whole.
Love has many definitions and can be interpreted in many different ways. William Maxwell demonstrates this in his story “Love”. Maxwell opens up his story with a positive outlook on “Love” by saying, “Miss Vera Brown, she wrote on the blackboard, letter by letter in flawlessly oval palmer method. Our teacher for fifth grade. The name might as well have been graven in stone” (1). By the end of the story, the students “love” for their teachers no longer has a positive meaning, because of a turn in events that leads to a tragic ending. One could claim that throughout the story, Maxwell uses short descriptive sentences with added details that foreshadow the tragic ending.
One of the points of confusion for me early in this book was the “I-It” relation. After reading and rereading the book I have been able to grasp the concept better and understand that “I-It” relations really drive our society today. Buber claims that these relations are always instrumental, purposive, and goal-directed relation. Taking this concept and applying it to my life I could see where most relationships are built on “I-It” relations. There are people in my own life that I solely go to the gym with or do other activities and I never really looked at it as a means to and end. However, after reading Buber I realized that is exactly what it was and that everyone does this in his or her lives.
In order to prove the distinction between saying I and saying Thou, Buber considers the example of a tree. First, he describes it as an I—noting the color, movement, species, all the while regarding it as a thing that can be analyzed and picked apart. Then, he alters the way he reflects on the tree and the relationship becomes one of I-Thou. Buber states that i...
Since reading my first collection of literature, “Vistas in Reading Literature: Gold Level”, I fell in love with the art of writing. Persuasive argumentatives were fun to internally debate with. Informational essays of research opened my eyes of perspective. Philosophy taught me to paint thoughts and reason onto my empty canvas. Religious texts of the Bible enlightened my soul. Oratory put a mirror in front of me to display the reflection of humanism. Literature of the classical fiction genres performed their themes within my empty theater. Especially, prose and poetry. Those two sisters till this day are holding my hand as I walk through these years.
Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. Print.