What does Martin Buber mean, in I and Thou, by the claim that the one thing that matters is full acceptance of presence? An attempt to answer this question led the author on a journey of exploration through Buber’s early writings, to reach a clarification of Buber’s predialogical concept of God. She examines Buber’s first major philosophical work: Daniel: Dialogues in Realization, drawing attention to inaccuracies in the available English translation. Buber’s desire for presence, she finds, began with an overwhelming experience of absence. His search is for a presence that will not let him down, that will not be a mis-encounter –that is, for a presence that will ensure that there is meaning.

This book will be an invaluable text for the student looking for a readable guide to Buber’s early writings. It will help readers to understand the rich depth and many layers of thought in Buber’s masterpiece, I and Thou, and to appreciate the radical change that took place in Buber’s concept of God prior to its publication in 1923.