I-Thou Relation Research Articles

Martin Buber, Hasidism, and Jewish spirituality: the implications for education and for pastoral care

There is a legal requirement that schools engage with the spiritual aspects of education, which encompasses pastoral care. This reflects the ethical sensibility that is present in individuals and underlies interactions with Others; and which should be part of the ethos of all educational institutions and especially schools. This is because spirituality is important to leading a moral life and to understanding the Other. The article considers specifically the potential of Jewish spirituality, and uses Martin Buber’s thought, to gain a better understanding of its contribution to education and to pastoral care. In the first part, we comment on the ‘basic words’, I-Thou and I-It, which are connected with Hasidism, the Jewish spiritual movement which had a great influence on Martin Buber. Hasidism understands that it is our duty to find and connect with the ‘divine sparks’, as genuine relations merge with the Divine, and when humans relate genuinely to one another, they relate to God. This is crucial for understanding the superiority of I-Thou relations over I-It relations. In the second and third parts of the article, we consider the implications of this understanding of Jewish spirituality for education and for pastoral care. This is done through highlighting the importance of I-Thou relations if the spiritual aspects of education and of pastoral care are to be encouraged and fulfilled.

The place of love in the Special Religious Education classroom

Special Religious Education is faith-based single tradition religious education taught in many Australian public schools by volunteer teachers who are adherents of the faith they are teaching. This paper derives from a qualitative study of the pedagogy of Christian Special Religious Education teachers that took place between 2010 and 2014. Love is at the heart of these Christian teachers’ pedagogy. It guides their pedagogical decisions and sustains and compels them to continue regardless of the challenges they experience. This paper discusses the place of philia, eros and agape love in SRE pedagogy and uses Buber’s concept of I-It and I-Thou relations to further explicate the nature of love in Special Religious Education.

Education and Empty Relationality: Thoughts on Education and the Kyoto School of Philosophy

This article builds on the growing literature on the Kyoto School of Philosophy and its influences on the field of Education. First, I argue that the influence of the Kyoto School of Philosophy is historically significant in Japan, and that the connection between this philosophical school and the philosophy of education is by no means superficial. Second, I suggest that this school contributes a unique view of ‘negative education’ founded in the philosophical idea of ‘nothingness’. I examine how this negative education is manifest both in religious cultivation and in more general views of education, and I develop these ideas through the models of self-negation proposed by Nishitani Keiji and Hisamatsu Shin'ichi. Third, taking up the Herbartian idea of ‘pedagogical tact’, I analyse the characteristics of the I-Thou relationship, in the vector of nothingness, implicit in the above-mentioned view of education. I examine two approaches to this relationship—one of ‘sharing in nothingness’ as found in Nishitani and Hisamatsu, and one that goes beyond the idea of ‘sharing’ and accommodates alterity, as found in Nishida Kitaro and Nishihira Tadashi. By threshing out these three points, I hope to highlight the continued pedagogical relevance of the philosophical ideas of the Kyoto School.

Description at the Edge? I-It / I-Thou Relations and Action in Prisons Research

I argue in this article that, far from being ‘policy advisors’, our main moral purpose in research is ‘getting the description right’. Doing this takes time, effort and energy. Good description constitutes what Ferrell and Hamm (1998) called ‘edgework’. It requires courage and skill, and an I-Thou orientation toward our participants. The paradox, as Paul Rock (2014) suggests, is that whilst ‘policy change’ should not be the primary aim of criminological research, research done well can make poor policy choices, or ‘facile gestures’, less defensible, and can have impact on the world of practice in indirect as well as direct ways.

A reciprocal relationship - an opportunity and a solution for a meaningful daily life in home care - the older person’s perspective

Background: Shortcomings in elderly care have been reported in many parts of world, including Sweden. National guidelinesfor elderly care have been introduced in Sweden, which contain core values and local guarantees of dignity. These highlightthe need for dignity and well-being and organizing older person’s daily life so that she/he perceives it as meaningful. Therefore,the aim of present study was to explore opportunities, obstacles and search for solutions as described by olderperson in order to create a meaningful daily life. Methods: The design is based on underpinning view of seeing older persons as narrators of their own stories andinterpreters of their own lives. Participatory Appreciative Action Reflection (PAAR) was used when collecting data. Fifteenolder persons participated, and repeated interviews were carried out as reflective conversations, in total 30 interviews. The olderpersons provided their analyses and reflections on what had been said regarding a meaningful daily life. Finally, an analysis ofthe data was done, based on interpretative description, and an inductive approach built on key axioms of naturalistic inquiry. Results: The older persons’ experiences and knowledge of opportunities, obstacles and solutions to a meaningful daily life canbe summarized into four themes: (1) to live as usual, (2) collaboration with staff, (3) relationship carries everyday life,and (4) belonging to something. In discussion, we choose to further develop these four themes by using Buber’s philosophyof dialogue. Conclusions: An opportunity and a solution for meaningful daily life for older person were seen in relationship tooneself, to staff, to others, and family. The reciprocal relationship, which occurred in interaction between staff andthe older person, was opportunity and solution for a meaningful daily life. It was ongoing conversation between olderperson and staff who became the glue and formed relationship. If staff could support older persons to maintaintheir habits and routines, these were solutions for creating a meaningful daily life. A meaningful daily life could be obtained inan I-Thou relation in a shared everyday life, where relationship and continuing dialogue becomes power of balance.The relationship is also relevant for staff and in line with Buber’s thoughts on how we are shaped by humans in encounterwith others.

Farewell to Theology?

At least since Augustine's Confessions, theological task and theologian's self-articulation can be seen as somehow intertwined. The fact that academic theological discourse often obscures this link is no argument against it. All writing presupposes an I, and theological writing is no different. Indeed, theology, as I shall define it below, demands an I-Thou relationship precisely because it is a dialogue that extends through time and space. The following essay, then, aims to navigate fraught waters of a theologian's self-conception and public discourse of theology. Different modes of argumentationpersonal reflection and propositional discourse, particular-will be required, and this blending is itself part of argument.After eleven years academic theology, four post-doctoral positions, I have changed course. I left a job at University of Cambridge and began attending Iowa Writers' Workshop to pursue an MFA Creative Writing. I use metaphor of changing course, but that is not quite right. Perhaps a better one would be that of perspective. Then it would be clear that I aim to address same issues, but from a different angle. The following argument is my attempt, as a theologian, to make sense of this shift, whether of course or of perspective. It would certainly be perfectly acceptable to write fiction simply as a hobby, and even then to see it as somehow a means of engaging with broadly theological issues, but as a theologian who remains committed to theological task, I think I can go further and argue that act of fiction writing can itself be, from start, a properly theological endeavor. In fact, if following articulation of theological task is any way correct, a shift from theological academy to creative writing might well allow me to have a greater theological impact than remaining only within guild of academic theologians.I would suggest following as a preliminary, basic definition of academic discipline of theology: To teach doctrine is to introduce ones students into an historical and ongoing about who is. Because I speak here of Christian theology, term God refers particularly to revealed Jesus of Nazareth. In addition, term conversation presupposes a group of people. Historically speaking, those engaged this conversation-that is, reflection on who is-are part of group of people who worship being discussed, that is, the church. But to be clear: academic discipline of theology is not to be confused with liturgical practice of worshiping body of believers. It is instead a reflection on that practice, one step removed from actions that arise from belief this God. For that reason, it is possible to engage reflective without believing any of premises on which it is based, but because worship of gives rise to certain questions, and because discipline of theology reflects on these questions, theology and life of are ultimately intertwined and inseparable. At this stage, it seems helpful to appeal to Karl Barths language: theology is church's self-test.1To speak of church such a monolithic way poses an immediate problem: if our eyes are to be believed, such a unified entity does not exist. In this context, it must suffice to make a theological claim that will be accepted by many-but certainly not alldenominations. Even Roman Catholic Church can say about other that in some real way they are joined with us Holy Spirit.2 One might formulate it following manner: there is a reality, the church, that comprises a multitude of churches precisely because they all worship same God.In its worship and liturgy, this seeks to grow understanding of who raised Jesus from dead. This attempt is possible because has made himself known, and so doing, has initiated a relationship with his creation. …

On the An-Enhypostasia Distinction and Three-Part Concrete-Nature Christology: The Divine Preconscious Model

Oliver Crisp argues that the an-enhypostasia distinction should be understood according to a three-part concrete-nature Christology. Nevertheless, his attempt to maintain the anhypostasia- enhypostasia distinction accordance with Two-Consciousnesses Model seems unsatisfactory, for this model faces certain problems concerning Christ's self-consciousness and the possibility of an I-Thou relationship between the divine and human consciousnesses. I argue that the Divine Preconscious Model provides an alternative, novel account of three-part concrete-nature Christology which avoids these and other problems, and which maintains the anhypostasia- enhypostasia distinction as follows: the human nature (the aspect of his consciousness which had human properties, his human preconscious and human body) did not exist as a person independent of its assumption by the Word (anhypostasia), while from the first moment of the Incarnation the human nature existed in a particular person (enhypostasia).

Cultural Translation, Long-form Journalism, and Readers’ Responses to the Muslim Veil

This article examines, first, news translation as a form of cultural translation, and, second, readers’ responses to this mode of journalism. In particular, it examines the series Derrière le voile… des femmes, published in May 2010 by Radio-Canada.ca, through the lens of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s discussion of the I-Thou relationship, looking first at the stories in the series and then at readers’ comments. This series explained why some Muslim women chose to wear a niqab or veil, but the comments revealed that readers were largely unwilling to see the choice as one made freely. However, the comments also revealed that readers were willing to engage in conversation, pointing to one potential value of long-form interpretive journalism.

The Challenge of Self-Giving Love

Conventional wisdom sometimes holds that selfishness pays off and is even necessary for survival in a competitive world. Joseph Bracken here challenges that view, arguing instead that self-giving love for others is the mainspring of human life and even of the cosmic process as a whole. Basing his argument on texts from Scripture, church tradition, and philosophical reflection on the nature of I-Thou relations, he concludes that the goal of self-transcendence is paradoxically located not in the self but in the well-being of the other.

A Buberian Approach to the Co-construction of Relationships Between Professional Caregivers and Residents in Nursing Homes

This article demonstrates the value of a Buberian approach to relationships between professional caregivers and residents in nursing homes. Extant research on relationships between professional caregivers and residents typically distinguishes between task-centered and person-centered communication yet tends to privilege either the perspective of professionals or residents. To address this issue, we develop an approach that addresses the co-construction of I-It and I-Thou relationships, based on Martin Buber's social existentialist philosophy. In turn, we show the merit of this approach by using it to analyze interactional data from an observational study on morning care in Dutch nursing homes. As these examples illustrate, our analytical perspective is useful because it highlights how different caregiver-resident relationships are co-created and unfold over time. Thus, by revealing how these relationships are worked out in everyday interactions through subtle shifts between task-centered and person-centered communicative practices, this article offers important insights for improving the quality of care in nursing homes.

Cassirer, Benveniste, and Peirce on deictics and "pronominal" communication

For all his profound interest in Secondness and its manifestation in various kinds of indices, including deictics, Peirce rarely addresses the inter-pronominal relationships. Whilst the American founder of semiotics would designate languageas a whole to Thirdness, only within the larger framework of which deictics can work, the German philosopher Cassirer observes that "what characterizes the very first spatial terms that we find in language is their embracing of a definite 'deictic' function". For Cassirer the significance of pronominals, especially the I-Thou relationship, lies in its impact on the development of spatial concept that lays the foundation of symbolic forms. It may look strange why the "designatives" of I, Thou, He, in Peirce's own terms, so obvious in their categorial and empirical differentiation, should fail to be reduceable to the triad of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness. It is interesting, however, that in his 1906 correspondence with Lady Welby, Peirce should refer to the strange "Communicational Interpretant", or "the Cominterpretant, which is a determination of that mind into which the minds of utterer and interpreter have to be fused in order that any communication should take place". Peirce asserts that this communication of a Form, say, being in love, is made possible by sign. This paper discusses Peirce's and Cassirer's references to deictics or indexical sign, in particular, inter-personal relationships, in light of Benveniste's concept of discourse, and probes into a possible subtext underlying the Peirce-Welby correspondence.

Dietrich von Hildebrand and the Birth of Love as an I-Thou Relation

Dietrich von Hildebrand and the Birth of Love as an I-Thou Relation

Subject-subject relationship as a significant aspect of personal development in adulthood

Subject-subject relationship as a significant aspect of personal development in adulthood The issue of the subject-subject relationship, also known as the relationship of encounter or the I-Thou relationship, which has a strong presence in the humanities and Christian mysticism, is rarely addressed by psychology. This type of relationship goes beyond the psychosocial approach to personal maturity and human development at the so-called higher stages, thus falling outside the predominant lines of psychological inquiry. Consequently, this paper concerns issues that are not popular in psychology, albeit they are close to the problem of the person's development as a subject. Drawing inspiration from cultural anthropology and intersubjective philosophy - especially Martin Buber's philosophy of dialogue and Gabriel Marcel's concrete philosophy - the author presents from a psychological stance the phenomenon of the subject-subject relationship and its prerequisite conditions. Adopting the perspective of personalistic psychology in its existentialist-phenomenological strands, the author indicates the place of this relationship in human personal development and highlights its crucial significance to this process.

Philosophie du néant et théologie du processus

I. The Development of Nishida’s Philosophy of Nothingness reviewed from the Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in Japanese Spirituality(1) Psychology of Nothingness. Pure Experience and Religion (2) Self-Awareness of Nothingness. Intuition and Reflection in the Self-Awareness (3) Nothingness as the Ultimate Universal. Phenomenology of the Self-Awakening in the Field of Nothingness (4) Inter-Subjectivity of Nothingness. The I-Thou Relation and the “Absolute Other” in the Field of Nothingness (5) Creativity of Nothingness. The Historical World as the Dialectical Universal (6) The Self-Emptying of the Absolute. The Structure of Pan-en-theism and the Unity of Opposites in Nishida’s PhilosophyII. Haya-Theology as a Theology of Creativity (1) The Criticism of Onto-Theology from the Biblical Perspective (2) Haya-Theology as a Biblical Theology contained in God’s Self-Revelation to Moses as Promise of Freedom (3) Haya-Theology as a Theology of Creativity characterized as follows: (i) Pan-en-theism (ii) Sur-relativism (self-transcendent relativism / self-trans-descending absolutism) (iii) Sur-naturalism (self-transcendent naturalism/self-trans-descending supernaturalism)

Boundary Work in Inclusive Religious Groups: Constructing Identity at the New York Catholic Worker

Many religious groups use symbolic boundary work to construct distinctive collective identity. While boundary drawing may be unproblematic for some, it can create conflict for groups. How do inclusive groups construct and solidify identity and commitment? If they use boundary work, how do they manage the conflict between exclusive othering and inclusiveness? I show that while members of the inclusive New York Catholic Worker use boundary work to construct distinctive identity, their boundary work takes place largely on an abstract level while they practice inclusion of the other in their concrete interactions. Building on Martin Buber's insights regarding the transforma- tive power of encounters, I argue that concrete practices of inclusion outweigh boundary drawing in inclusive groups like the Catholic Worker. Group ideologies that encourage practices that cultivate openness to I-Thou relations, such as Catholic Worker personalism, therefore provide an advantage in balancing inclusive identity with boundary work.

A psicologia fenomenológica e a filosofia de Buber: o encontro na clínica

Este artigo trata de reflexões empreendidas no âmbito da psicologia clínica de orientação fenomenológica. No aprofundamento da concepção de homem proposta por esta perspectiva, fundamenta-se um tipo de clínica centrada na pessoa enquanto singularidade articuladora das dimensões biopsicossocial e espiritual, ontologicamente voltada para a compreensão de si e do mundo. A filosofia de Martin Buber complementa a proposta fenomenológica, ressaltando a potencialidade da relação humana na sua concretude e movimento. São analisadas as noções de relação eu-tu, eu-isso e encontro, nas suas implicações para a prática clínica, propondo-se reflexões sobre o lugar do psicólogo na interação com o cliente. Busca-se, com este diálogo, delinear um atendimento psicológico a partir do cuidado com a pessoa em sua totalidade, facilitando seu movimento incessante de integrar-se e transformar-se mediante o encontro genuíno com o outro.

Buber's distinguishing philosophy from religion

In this paper the author discusses Buber's distinguishing the spheres of philosophy and religion. Relying both on Pascal's insight that the living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is essentially different from abstract God of the philosophers and on his own spiritual experiences, Buber thinks that philosophy as such is abstract while religion is distinguished by its personal relationship, immediacy and concreteness. According to the thinker of the dialogue, philosophy is based on subject-object relation and is limited to objective communication. It is reduced to the mere thought exchange and does not require any personal life commitment which is otherwise the case in the true religion. In contrast to the detachment of the theoretical position, religion culminates in the immortal moment of the meeting with eternal Thou, i.e. with the living God. Differently from philosophy which insists on logic and consistency, religion is distinguished by its paradox. Instead of following the path of philosophy which mediates and reconciles the opposites, religion demands from us to bear the antinomy of the human condition. After having discussed many Buber's arguments in favour of the primacy of the living religion over the abstract philosophy namely of I-Thou relationship over the impersonal I-It relationship, the author examines the relation between the philosophical and religious moment in Buber's thought itself. At the end of the paper the author, agreeing great deal with Buber's reasoning, advances his own opinion on the relation between religion and philosophy.

Friendship and the Ethics of Understanding

In the following essay I explore the hermeneutical significance of Gadamer's writings on the relational, and thus ethical, components of understanding. First, I look at his discussion in Truth and Method of the significance of the I-Thou relation for interpretation. I then turn to his 1985 essay on Aristotle's notion of friendship,Friendship and Self-Knowledge: Reflections on the Role of Friendship in Greek Ethics. My interest is to think about the implications of these writings for his theory of hermeneutics in general. I conclude that both motifs indicate the importance of openness to the other that leads to a deeper realization of our solidarity with the other.

The Barretstown Experience: A Rite of Passage

Barretstown Castle Holiday Camp for seriously ill children may have long-term beneficial effects on children with life-threatening illnesses. The presented evidence suggests that the experience is a contemporary rite of passage. The different stages of separation, transition and reaggregation can be identified. The separation from family and civil society is remarkably complete. Established norms no longer prevail in the transitional phase of liminality. Communitas and I-thou relationships become the mode of interaction. Barretstown added the dimension of Therapeutic Recreation to an American camp experience. The structured sequences of Therapeutic Recreation mediated by caras (councillors) encourage personal change. The Barretstown experience may be a life-enhancing ritual process and an important social experience in chronic severe childhood illnesses.

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.