The philosophy of religion is an issue that has been a topic of discussion for some time. Among those that work with this issue and are fascinated by it, there are many different individuals that think along very different lines. Among these people are Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas. Both of these individuals will be discussed here in an effort to show how they are similar and how they are different when it comes to some of the ideas and theories that they have and that they find important.
             In order to do this, each individual will be addressed separately so that there can be a conclusion at the end which ties them together and discusses how they thought about the world around them and the religious issues of their times. By doing this it will be much easier to understand and think about what each man had to say so that the work that they did can be analyzed and examined in light of who they were and the time period that they lived in.
             Who someone feels that they are on the inside, along with the time period in which that person lives and works, can greatly affect the worldview that the person has and the way that decisions are made and thoughts are formed. Because of this, Buber and Levinas were very different in some of the ways that they addressed issues and very alike in others, both of which will be shown within the following pages. This will facilitate an understanding of the importance of these two gentlemen to the field of religion and to other fields of study in which they both took an interest.
             Martin Buber lived from February of 1878 to June of 1965 (Biemann, 2002). He was Jewish-Austrian and he worked as an educator, a philosopher, and a translator, but much of what he did was specifically centered around the ideals that were seen in religious consciousness, community, and the relationships between people. His writing style was poetic and very evocative in most of the major titles and themes that were ...