What do you think?
Rate this book
Eclipse of God: Studies in the Relation Between Religion and Philosophy
"The condition Buber calls the 'eclipse of God' is the reality that modern life and the teachings of many scholars have in many ways destroyed the opportunity for intimacy with an eternal, ever-present, Thou, or God. Based in part on a series of lectures he gave in the United States in 1951, this book examines Buber's interpretations of Western thinking and belief around this notion of lost intimacy or direct contact with the Divine, focusing particularly on the relationships between religion and philosophy, ethics, and Jungian psychology."-Reference and Research Book News
170 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
35 people are currently reading
450 people want to read
About the author
Martin Buber
411 books463 followersMartin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship.
Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. In 1902, Buber became the editor of the weekly Die Welt, the central organ of the Zionist movement, although he later withdrew from organizational work in Zionism. In 1923 Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou), and in 1925 he began translating the Hebrew Bible into the German language.
In 1930 Buber became an honorary professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main, and resigned in protest from his professorship immediately after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. He then founded the Central Office for Jewish Adult Education, which became an increasingly important body as the German government forbade Jews to attend public education. In 1938, Buber left Germany and settled in Jerusalem, in the British Mandate of Palestine, receiving a professorship at Hebrew University and lecturing in anthropology and introductory sociology.
Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. In 1902, Buber became the editor of the weekly Die Welt, the central organ of the Zionist movement, although he later withdrew from organizational work in Zionism. In 1923 Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou), and in 1925 he began translating the Hebrew Bible into the German language.
In 1930 Buber became an honorary professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main, and resigned in protest from his professorship immediately after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. He then founded the Central Office for Jewish Adult Education, which became an increasingly important body as the German government forbade Jews to attend public education. In 1938, Buber left Germany and settled in Jerusalem, in the British Mandate of Palestine, receiving a professorship at Hebrew University and lecturing in anthropology and introductory sociology.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
Read
June 12, 2018من خواندن این ترجمه را رها کردم و به ترجمه‌ی انگلیسی کوچ کردم زیرا ترجمه‌ی فارسی پر سنگلاخ است و اصلا روان نیست. با ترجمه‌ی انگلیسی کتاب (که مترجمان از روی آن ترجمه کرده‌اند و نه از روی اصل آلمانی) بخش‌هایی را مقابله کردم و دریافتم که مشکل ترجمه تنها فقدان ویراستاری نیست بلکه در بسیاری جاها اصطلاحات درست معادل‌گذاری نشده‌اند. با عربی‌زدگی ترجمه من شخصا مشکلی ندارم و بلکه ارتباط می‌گیرم ـــ گرچه معتقدم بخشی از آن زیاده عربی‌زده است. با این حال، حق‌گزارانه نخواهد بود اگر نگویم که گرچه ترجمه‌ی این اثر ترجمه‌ی خوبی نیست اما به احترام دست‌کم یکی از مترجمان درگذشته‌ی این اثر ابوتراب سهراب (۱۳۱۷-۱۳۹۰) مترجم بهایی آثار ادبی و فلسفی تمام قد می‌ایستم ــــ کسی که از آیینی محترم اما سرکوب‌شده می‌آید و چه چیزی لطیف‌تر از این‌که در عین سرکوب‌شدگی دست از امید بر نداری و از رهگذر ترجمه حتی به ارتقای سطح دانش و فرهنگ همان قوم سرکوب‌گر همت گماری. خدای‌اش بیامرزاد و نام‌اش بلند باد و سرکوب هم‌کیشان‌اش، در ایران و غیر ایران، رو به پایان باد الهی.
June 16, 2021
"آنچه انسان نیست ولی میخواهد باشد یا آرزو میکند باشد خدا است همین و همین و نه هیچ چیز دیگر"
'شروع خوبی بود برای آشنایی کوچک با فلسفه:)
'شروع خوبی بود برای آشنایی کوچک با فلسفه:)
September 24, 2016
کتاب مجموعه چند نوشته از مارتین بوبر است که در حقیقت چکیده متن چند سخنرانی او در دانشگاه های مختلف به انضمام چند نوشته تکمیلی است؛ نوشته های جستارگونه ای که هر کدام شامل چند بند می شوند و هر چند همه جانبه نیستند ولی، حاوی اشاراتی هستند که هر کدام بسیار روشنگر و عمیق هستند.
از عناونین این جستارها می توان به دین و فلسفه، دین و واقعیت، دین و اخلاق، دین و تفکر مدرن و تعلیق اخلاق اشاره کرد؛ نوشته هایی که بوبر در آنان به برخی از بزرگترین جریان های فکری معاصر اشاره کرده و موضع خویش را در قبال آنان روشن می کند؛ از هایدگر و سارتر و یونگ گرفته تا کیرکگور و دکارت و ... . محور همگی ایده های طرح شده در کتاب هم در تلاش برای بسط و تعمیم رابطه «من» و «تو»یی با خداست، هرچند که در رابطه نسبت به رابطه «من» «آن» هم بی التفات نیست و در تعیین جایگاه هر یک اقدام شده است.
«کسوف خداوند» در حقیقت دربرابر ایده نیچه ای مرگ خدا، در صدد است از امکان هایی برای بازگشت حوالت گونه دین به عرصه زندگی سخن بگوید؛ دینی که در روایت بوبری آن باید تمام عرصه های زندگی انسان را در بر بگیرد و صیرت و صورت او را تجلی گر رابطه مستقیم با امرنامشروط الهی گرداند.
از عناونین این جستارها می توان به دین و فلسفه، دین و واقعیت، دین و اخلاق، دین و تفکر مدرن و تعلیق اخلاق اشاره کرد؛ نوشته هایی که بوبر در آنان به برخی از بزرگترین جریان های فکری معاصر اشاره کرده و موضع خویش را در قبال آنان روشن می کند؛ از هایدگر و سارتر و یونگ گرفته تا کیرکگور و دکارت و ... . محور همگی ایده های طرح شده در کتاب هم در تلاش برای بسط و تعمیم رابطه «من» و «تو»یی با خداست، هرچند که در رابطه نسبت به رابطه «من» «آن» هم بی التفات نیست و در تعیین جایگاه هر یک اقدام شده است.
«کسوف خداوند» در حقیقت دربرابر ایده نیچه ای مرگ خدا، در صدد است از امکان هایی برای بازگشت حوالت گونه دین به عرصه زندگی سخن بگوید؛ دینی که در روایت بوبری آن باید تمام عرصه های زندگی انسان را در بر بگیرد و صیرت و صورت او را تجلی گر رابطه مستقیم با امرنامشروط الهی گرداند.
January 29, 2019
“La ‘fede’ non è un sentimento nell’anima umana, ma è l’ingresso [...] nella realtà, nella realtà totale, senza omissioni né diminuzioni”.
August 12, 2012
Those versed in Modern philosophy will enjoy a non-traditional critique of the Moderns and proto-postmoderns. Buber criticizes Modern thinkers for building false images of God, while standing outside of Religion itself. Buber also offers insight into his already established I-Thou/I-It rhetoric. I especially enjoyed his interpretation of "God is dead" as "God is silent". This book might be confusing to readers not familiar with mystical, Kierkegaardian, or Judeo-Christian categories.
October 12, 2017
"Credo che ogni uomo, in una certa misura, sia stato destinato a qualche cosa, che in generale egli evita con pieno successo." (p. 93)
September 16, 2023
To be apart from the world, divested of all things, lonely in your Presence, in order to respond to your justice with all the motions of my heart.
The divine force which man actually encounters in life does not hover above the demonic, but penetrates it.
Eclipse of the light of heaven, eclipse of God, such indeed is the character of the historic hour through which the world is passing.
The religious reality of the meeting with the Meeter, who shines through all forms and is Himself formless,knows no image of Him, nothing comprehensible as object. It knows only the presence of the Present One. Symbols of Him, whether images or ideas, always exist first when and insofar as Thou becomes He, and that means It. But the ground of human existence in which it gathers and becomes whole is also the deep abyss out of which images arise. Symbols of God come into being, some which allow themselves to be xed in lasting visibility even in earthly material and some which tolerate no other sanctuary than that of the soul. Symbols supplement one another, they merge, they are set before the community of believers in plastic or theological forms. And God, so we may surmise, does not despise all these similarly and necessarily untrue images, but rather suers that one look at Him through them. Yet they always quickly desire to be more than they are, more than signs and pointers toward Him. It finally happens ever again that they swell themselves up and obstruct the way to Him, and He removes Himself from them. Then comes round the hour of the philosopher, who rejects both the image and the God which it symbolizes and opposes to it the pure idea, which he even at times understands as the negation of all metaphysical ideas. This critical “atheism” (Atheoi is the name which the Greeks gave to those who denied the traditional gods) is the prayer which is spoken in the third person in the form of speech about an idea. It is the prayer of the philosopher to the again unknown God. It is well suited to arouse religious men and to impel them to set forth right across the God-deprived reality to a new meeting. On their way they destroy the images which manifestly no longer do justice to God. The spirit moves them which moved the philosopher.
the God who speaks proposes no riddles
The divine force which man actually encounters in life does not hover above the demonic, but penetrates it.
Eclipse of the light of heaven, eclipse of God, such indeed is the character of the historic hour through which the world is passing.
The religious reality of the meeting with the Meeter, who shines through all forms and is Himself formless,knows no image of Him, nothing comprehensible as object. It knows only the presence of the Present One. Symbols of Him, whether images or ideas, always exist first when and insofar as Thou becomes He, and that means It. But the ground of human existence in which it gathers and becomes whole is also the deep abyss out of which images arise. Symbols of God come into being, some which allow themselves to be xed in lasting visibility even in earthly material and some which tolerate no other sanctuary than that of the soul. Symbols supplement one another, they merge, they are set before the community of believers in plastic or theological forms. And God, so we may surmise, does not despise all these similarly and necessarily untrue images, but rather suers that one look at Him through them. Yet they always quickly desire to be more than they are, more than signs and pointers toward Him. It finally happens ever again that they swell themselves up and obstruct the way to Him, and He removes Himself from them. Then comes round the hour of the philosopher, who rejects both the image and the God which it symbolizes and opposes to it the pure idea, which he even at times understands as the negation of all metaphysical ideas. This critical “atheism” (Atheoi is the name which the Greeks gave to those who denied the traditional gods) is the prayer which is spoken in the third person in the form of speech about an idea. It is the prayer of the philosopher to the again unknown God. It is well suited to arouse religious men and to impel them to set forth right across the God-deprived reality to a new meeting. On their way they destroy the images which manifestly no longer do justice to God. The spirit moves them which moved the philosopher.
the God who speaks proposes no riddles
May 11, 2017
Buber discusses the "eclipse of God," but he never gives a single substantial fact for believing.
Perhaps the only interesting section was when he discussed Sartre and unwittingly made Sartre look correct.
He quotes Sartre speaking of "religious need."
Sartre: "God is the quintessence of the Other."
Sartre: "What need have we of God? The Other is enough, no matter what other."
Sartre believed that "man should recover for himself the creative freedom which he ascribed to God and that he should affirm himself as the being through whom a world exists."
Sartre: God is "silent." One must "draw the consequences." And "There is no sign in the world." Thus man is "free" and "all is permitted."
Sartre: "If I have done away with God the father, someone is needed to invent values. . . . Life has no meaning a priori. . . it is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing else than this meaning which you choose."
Perhaps the only interesting section was when he discussed Sartre and unwittingly made Sartre look correct.
He quotes Sartre speaking of "religious need."
Sartre: "God is the quintessence of the Other."
Sartre: "What need have we of God? The Other is enough, no matter what other."
Sartre believed that "man should recover for himself the creative freedom which he ascribed to God and that he should affirm himself as the being through whom a world exists."
Sartre: God is "silent." One must "draw the consequences." And "There is no sign in the world." Thus man is "free" and "all is permitted."
Sartre: "If I have done away with God the father, someone is needed to invent values. . . . Life has no meaning a priori. . . it is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing else than this meaning which you choose."
January 6, 2015
A good collection of essays by this Jewish philosopher from the early 20th century. He critiques a wide variety of contemporary (to him) philosophers: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Jung, Heidegger, Sartre.
I enjoy these kind of critiques because an adversarial perspective is so much more contextual than a historical or biographical treatment.
His seminal text 'I and Thou' is not included but would be a prerequisite as it underpins everything he writes.
My favorite essay was 'Religion and Ethics'. Religion cannot be reduced to ethhics, but the ethical can never be suspended.
I enjoy these kind of critiques because an adversarial perspective is so much more contextual than a historical or biographical treatment.
His seminal text 'I and Thou' is not included but would be a prerequisite as it underpins everything he writes.
My favorite essay was 'Religion and Ethics'. Religion cannot be reduced to ethhics, but the ethical can never be suspended.
December 20, 2018
Bastante provechoso. Son respuestas a diferentes tipos de pensamientos filosóficos modernos, sigue siendo, y tal vez más, actual de lo que se podría pensar.
Sirve incluso como una interpretación fácil de entender del pensamiento de otros filósofos como Heidegger, Nietzsche, Spinoza, etc.
Me ha gustado muchísimo su respuesta al “Dios ha muerto” de Nietzsche. Bastante coherente y claro de entender.
Sirve incluso como una interpretación fácil de entender del pensamiento de otros filósofos como Heidegger, Nietzsche, Spinoza, etc.
Me ha gustado muchísimo su respuesta al “Dios ha muerto” de Nietzsche. Bastante coherente y claro de entender.
July 30, 2016
Not a perfect one although. But necessary to be read.
Read
December 23, 2023Net als bij 'Ik en Gij' is het eerste hoofdstuk zo goed, zo ernstig poetisch en diepzinnig, dat ik er bij elke herlezing in blijf steken. ik lees dan geintereseerd, ja, aangestoken verder, en tegelijk, Buber neemt me dan altijd langs zo lange trappen zijn onwaarschijnlijke diepten in, dat ik hem ergens kwijtraak en om me heen begin te voelen, tewijl ik terugverlang naar dat bijzonder warme binenkomen, dat plezierige welkom in dat eerste hoofdstuk. En dat herlees ik dan weer.
Is het een idee voor een geniaal boek, 'Inleidingen van Martin Bubner'? En mag men zeggen, wie dat gelezen heeft, de inleiding, die heeft het boek gezien zoals het is, nog voor men er aan begonnen is? Ik denk het wel. Geldt alleen voor Martin Buber.
Is het een idee voor een geniaal boek, 'Inleidingen van Martin Bubner'? En mag men zeggen, wie dat gelezen heeft, de inleiding, die heeft het boek gezien zoals het is, nog voor men er aan begonnen is? Ik denk het wel. Geldt alleen voor Martin Buber.
January 6, 2023
Read this book if you are up to the challenge of real dialogue, away from the fluffy cliché reputation. Or read this book to know you are not alone, in a quest perhaps to make sense of the Bible, to integrate where recent philosophy got a point, and where they destroyed opportunities to find God. Buber confronts Modernity with Holy Scripture from a jewish perspective, breathing as with the second lung of Christ fullfilment. The introduction is written with such refinement, giving words to the precious moments when minds and hearts meet to search and exchange for meaning, for love of Life in truth.
December 10, 2019
Essays on religion and philosophy etc. digs into a debate with Jung as to whether God can suffice being all in here (the brain) (Jung’s position) or where the existence of God ought to be something ontological as well (Buber).
If you like books like this you'll love my project:
http://youtube.com/c/seekersofunity?s...
If you like books like this you'll love my project:
http://youtube.com/c/seekersofunity?s...
October 31, 2017
I am taken with Martin Buber. He sees clearly the landscape of the modern world in philosophy and religion and secularism. He dances at the edge of theism and atheism personally, but cannot cross over to No-God.
August 12, 2022
En sí, el libro es muy interesante, muchas partes en verdad me gustarón, pero está pensado para alguien que ha estudiado filosofía durante ya mucho tiempo, por lo tanto muchas otras partes no las entendí para nada.
August 15, 2022
Read “Religion and Modern Thinking.”
August 21, 2022
Excelente análisis sobre la relación entre un Sujeto y un Sujeto (Dios) que detrás de las categorías filosófico-racionales se ha vuelto un Objeto.
December 15, 2022
Many bangers in here
December 16, 2023
Muy recomendable para quienes les interesa el tema de lo divino y la influencia en nuestro mundo
August 22, 2019
In this short but dense collection of essays, Buber explicates the progressive purgation of the concept of transcendental personhood from modern philosophy. He primarily approaches this history through his I-Thou vs. I-It schema. It's also clear that many of his categories ultimately derive from Kierkegaard (although Buber tries to distance himself from SK in his chapter here on the religious suspension of the ethical). Buber grapples with a number of thinkers, including Kant, Sartre, Heidegger, and Jung. There's a lot of fascinating depth to unpack in Buber's thought, although I don't think he's going to convince anyone antipathetic to religion with this book.
The primary deficiency here, which is common to many mystics, is that it's hard to talk coherently about a vision of the Absolute beyond all categories of bounded immanence and/or human categories of thought. God for Buber is defined by His relationality, but He's also beyond all relations as we know them on a finite level. There's an inherent tension in God as an Absolute (and thus incommensurable to any finite being) and God as intimate other. It's not always exactly clear what Buber means when he's talking about God, although he's certainly impassioned about the subject. Buber advances philosophical arguments to a point, but his conclusions are not appeals to reason but appeals to experience: the truly religious person will "just know" who God is and what He demands in any situation, including the ethically unthinkable (e.g., Abraham and Isaac). That's great for the fervent believer untroubled by any whisper of doubt, but what about the rest of us louche, ironic creatures of modernity?
I felt this collection ended quite abruptly, and I think it could have benefited from one more piece where Buber tries to provide a little more positive theology (or if that's not really possible for him, at least to sketch his vision of the via negativa in more depth). Worth reading for his mystical fervor (and his scornful and pithy dismissal in the supplemental epilogue of Jung's attempted rebuttal) if nothing else.
The primary deficiency here, which is common to many mystics, is that it's hard to talk coherently about a vision of the Absolute beyond all categories of bounded immanence and/or human categories of thought. God for Buber is defined by His relationality, but He's also beyond all relations as we know them on a finite level. There's an inherent tension in God as an Absolute (and thus incommensurable to any finite being) and God as intimate other. It's not always exactly clear what Buber means when he's talking about God, although he's certainly impassioned about the subject. Buber advances philosophical arguments to a point, but his conclusions are not appeals to reason but appeals to experience: the truly religious person will "just know" who God is and what He demands in any situation, including the ethically unthinkable (e.g., Abraham and Isaac). That's great for the fervent believer untroubled by any whisper of doubt, but what about the rest of us louche, ironic creatures of modernity?
I felt this collection ended quite abruptly, and I think it could have benefited from one more piece where Buber tries to provide a little more positive theology (or if that's not really possible for him, at least to sketch his vision of the via negativa in more depth). Worth reading for his mystical fervor (and his scornful and pithy dismissal in the supplemental epilogue of Jung's attempted rebuttal) if nothing else.
April 9, 2016
Dense but intelligible. Though it was clear that the ultimate significance of the "I-Thou" relationship was religious, in Buber's classic introduction of that theory, he studiously avoided making the connection in full. Here he does. Along the way he mercilessly chews out Sartre and especially Jung for their Sophistic relativism while taking a surprisingly understanding view of Nietzsche and Heidegger when they accept that Good is dead yet seek some kind of replacement. The discussion of ethics and religion is also very interesting.
November 21, 2022
"Ciò che l'uomo non è, ma che vuole o desidera essere, questo, e soltanto questo, null'altro è Dio."
Il testo si tiene in precario equilibrio tra teoretico e divulgativo, Buber non sembra preoccuparsi troppo di chi non conosce a menadito le opere di Sartre, Heidegger, Jung e Hermann Cohen e procede simboleggiando piuttosto che esplicitando temi e problemi. Chi c'è, c'è...
Il testo si tiene in precario equilibrio tra teoretico e divulgativo, Buber non sembra preoccuparsi troppo di chi non conosce a menadito le opere di Sartre, Heidegger, Jung e Hermann Cohen e procede simboleggiando piuttosto che esplicitando temi e problemi. Chi c'è, c'è...
February 13, 2008
I did not get a lot out of this one
February 20, 2012
Provacative and insightful
April 23, 2012
One of the few books to seriously help me grapple with evil.
October 14, 2015
'Duty is indeed just the expression for God's will.' -Kierkegaard
January 30, 2016
Excellent
This should be a classic among books about theism. Great companion to his better-known masterpiece of humanism I and Thou.
This should be a classic among books about theism. Great companion to his better-known masterpiece of humanism I and Thou.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews