Gog and Magog - (Martin Buber Library) by Martin Buber (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Gog and Magog is a religious chronicle in fictional form. Its heroes are Hasidic rapbis. Its background is the Napoleonic wars at the end of the eighteenth century. Its scene is laid in Poland and Hungary.

Although magic and superstition play their parts in the story, it is really Buber's effort to articulate two approaches to the question: May men use evil to accomplish good? May men take power in their own hands--even to do the work of redemption--without submitting first to the will of God? More particularly Buber unfolds the inner world of messianic longing and expectation that characterized Judaism then and continues to characterize it to the present day.

From the Back Cover

Originally titled For the Sake of Heaven, Gog and Magog is a fictional religious chronicle in which the heroes are Hasidic rabbis. The setting for the novel is Poland and Hungary during the Napoleonic wars at the end of the eighteenth century. Although magic and superstition play their parts in the story, it is really Martin Buber's effort to articulate two approaches to the question: May men use evil to accomplish good? May men take power into their own hands - even to do the work of redemption - without submitting first to the will of God? More particularly, Buber unfolds the inner world of messianic longing and expectations that characterized Judaism then and continues to characterize it to the present day.

Review Quotes

A book that saw its beginning in one world conflict, was written under the impact of another, and deals with a great spiritual struggle to realize the meaning of still another, a century and a half earlier, is surely a book that speaks to the condition of our time.-- "Commonweal"

It is . . . one of the crowning achievements of Buber's lifetime of significant work, a profound literary work which may properly be compared to Dostoievsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov in its dialectic between types of religious figures and in the depths of its insights into the problem of evil and of human existence.-- "Journal of Bible and Religion"

About the Author

Martin Buber has gained worldwide acclaim for his translations and expositions of various mythic and mystical traditions. His works include I and Thou, The Prophetic Faith, On Zion, and Tales of the Hasidim.