Martin Buber and psychotherapy

This paper is intended to make the ideas of Martin Buber more directly available to psychotherapists. Buber's influence on therapy is mostly indirect and the author believes that his impact could be considerable if his writings were better known and more often discussed. Several important ideas of Buber are summarized. These include dialogue, I-Thou relationships, existential guilt, and confirmation.     

马丁·布伯:当代语境中的对话哲学

马丁·布伯在当代语境中开创了一套对话哲学,这是值得高度重视和隆重纪念的。对话哲学强调人之作为实践存在优先于人之作为认知主体,强调第二人称的优先性,即我-你关系优先于我-它关系。这是富于洞察力和感召力的哲学遗产,尽管布伯仍未能将这种对话哲学发展为具有当代意义的语言哲学。     

The morality of faith in Martin Buber and William James

Some philosophers have become atheists because of “intellectual probity.” Martin Buber relates two occasions during which he advocated his view of the term “God” and rejected alternative perspectives. He never justified the basis for either his advocacy or his rejection, yet both play an important role in all his writing, especially his specific type of Zionism. Using what has been called the mere theism of William James’ “The Will to Believe” and the criteria for faith that James advances in that essay illuminates both Buber’s general view of the divine and more particularly his Zionism. Once Buber, no less than James, is understood as a mere theist the basis of what he accepts and what he rejects as true religion becomes clearer. Buber’s theism meets James’ requirement of being a live, forced, momentous option and his Zionism also strives to meet those standards.     

Healing relationships and the existential philosophy of Martin Buber

The dominant unspoken philosophical basis of medical care in the United States is a form of Cartesian reductionism that views the body as a machine and medical professionals as technicians whose job is to repair that machine. The purpose of this paper is to advocate for an alternative philosophy of medicine based on the concept of healing relationships between clinicians and patients. This is accomplished first by exploring the ethical and philosophical work of Pellegrino and Thomasma and then by connecting Martin Buber's philosophical work on the nature of relationships to an empirically derived model of the medical healing relationship. The Healing Relationship Model was developed by the authors through qualitative analysis of interviews of physicians and patients. Clinician-patient healing relationships are a special form of what Buber calls I-Thou relationships, characterized by dialog and mutuality, but a mutuality limited by the inherent asymmetry of the clinician-patient relationship. The Healing Relationship Model identifies three processes necessary for such relationships to develop and be sustained: Valuing, Appreciating Power and Abiding. We explore in detail how these processes, as well as other components of the model resonate with Buber's concepts of I-Thou and I-It relationships. The resulting combined conceptual model illuminates the wholeness underlying the dual roles of clinicians as healers and providers of technical biomedicine. On the basis of our analysis, we argue that health care should be focused on healing, with I-Thou relationships at its core.     

Behold the lilies: Martin Buber and the contemplation of nature1

Christians attuned to ecological and eco‐justice issues typically welcome the thought that they are called by God to protect and to serve nature, as well as to respond to the needs of the poor and the oppressed. Drawing on Martin Buber's I‐Thou and I‐It conceptuality and highlighting Jesus’ command about the lilies of the field, this article argues that Christians also are called to enter into an I‐Ens relationship with nature, that is, to behold or to contemplate, as well as to protect and to serve nature, as they continue to address ecojustice issues.     

A dialogic perspective for family therapy: the contributions of Martin Buber and Gregory Bateson

This paper concerns the philosophies of Martin Buber and Gregory Bateson, and the application of their philosophies to family therapy. The relevance of Buber's philosophical concepts to a social constructionist perspective in family therapy is given particular attention. Central points of Buber's and Bateson's theoretical perspectives are reviewed and compared. Both thinkers believe that relationship is the primary ingredient in the world of the living, and both have a commitment to the concept that difference is the essential building block of the world of the living. Buber and Bateson, as philosophical anthropologists, are concerned with questions of how their ontologies or epistemologies can be applied to the domain of human interactions, including various healing relationships such as family therapy. This paper shows how their theoretical ideas fit into family therapy thinking and practices, particularly from a social constructionist perspective.     

Laying Claim to Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Legacy

This essay assesses the oft-made link between Walter Rauschenbusch and Martin Luther King Jr. Denying neither Rauschenbusch’s influence on King nor King’s social gospel status, it nevertheless questions the way historians locate Rauschenbusch’s legacy in King and the civil rights movement. This strategy, however unintentionally, reproduces the white social gospel’s “astigmatism” on race and undermines the contributions of black social gospel (and other neglected) leaders even as revised histories affirm them. After exploring King’s references to Rauschenbusch and Rauschenbusch’s reflections on race, the paper compares their theologies. This comparison reveals key differences on race and economic justice that ramify across Rauschenbusch’s and King’s distinctive articulations of social gospel categories, further complicating historians’ claims on King. Oversimplifying the connection between these important figures in religious ethics distorts theological understanding of social gospel legacies and compromises their power for future generations.