Cambridge Scholars Publishing Martin Buber’s Myth of Zion

The book provides an insightful study of the Jewish theologian Martin Buber, and combines a review of the unconventional Zionism he proposed with a sensitivity to myth as the basis of an inclusive civil religion. The multifaceted nature of this work examines Buber’s embrace of myth, and his application of myth to both biblical studies and political theory. It pays special attention to the way Buber’s thinking about Zion applied to religious ethical issues such as ecology, education, ritual, and, as a continuing theme throughout the book, to the conflict between those Buber called Jews and Arabs in the land of Palestine. About the Author S. Daniel Breslauer is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Kansas University, USA. After completing an undergraduate degree in Near Eastern Languages at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1963, he went to the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion to study to become a Reform Jewish Rabbi. Although he was ordained as a Rabbi in 1969, his interest in academics, history, and the Near East in general led him to study at Brandeis University, USA, where he received an MA and PhD in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. He has published sixteen books and dozens of articles and essays including specialized studies on the Hebrew Bible, Jewish philosophy, contemporary Jewish thinkers, and Postmodern Jewish ethics. He has authored books on Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Mordecai Kaplan. His book on Judaism and Civil Religion (1993) focused on the interplay of religion and political life.