A Life of Dialogue

In A Life of Dialogue: Love Letters to My Daughters, one finds an honest, unflinching, and authentic voice that creates a unique outlook on multiple sclerosis. Kramer juxtaposes the quest for spiritual awakening with hiding from the effects of his MS. In so doing, he offers poignant insights into living with an illness that is even now too little understood.
Composed of short autobiographical letters to his two daughters, Kramer gracefully connects the personal with the universal, and the devastating emotions of MS with the unfinished joys of parenting--each bringing glimpses of new light. His spirituality informs seemingly mundane interactions with a refreshing candor. Turning toward others, trusting what is given, and responding openly, led him to becoming uniquely human in each interaction.
This book is written in an uplifting and surprising way. It finds essential humanity through documenting triumphs within a life of ever-narrowing confines.


""In this moving and inspiring memoir, Kenneth Kramer presents us with his remarkable spiritual journey. The work is beautifully written as letters to his daughters, which illustrates the overwhelming and unconditional love between them. In spite of his lifelong struggle with MS, Kramer continues to 'bow before the universe with profound gratitude for its overwhelming generosity.'""
--Harold Kasimow, Author, Interfaith Activism: Abraham Joshua Heschel and Religious Diversity; George Drake Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus, Grinnell College.

""Whether you sit with this book at a cafe or your kitchen table, you hold an intimate, honest, and passionate love story told by an amazing teacher, seeker, and scholar. [The book] takes the reader into the most honest, humorous, heartbreaking reality. Kramer can't help but be a teacher, and what he teaches is the power of genuine conversation. You will most definitely have one with him as you read it.""
--Ziggy Rendler-Bregman, Author, The Gate of Our Coming and Going

""The letter format was an inspired choice: each one is a parable that works more tellingly than any continuous narrative would have. They all have a clear point, conveying a wide range of feelings and gracefully linking the particular with the universal.""
--RD Bolam, Certified Hakomi Therapist

""As I read over this remarkable life story in the form of letters to his daughters, I recall a passage from the poet Yeats, that we praise the soldier who returns victorious from the trenches, but rarely do we praise the person who goes deeply within himself and emerges victorious. I am convinced [Kramer] has emerged victorious.""
--Robert C. Morgan, Author, The End of the Art World


Kenneth Paul Kramer is a Professor emeritus of Comparative Religious Studies at San Jose (CA) State University. He has published Learning Through Dialogue: The Relevance of Martin Buber's Classroom (2013), Martin Buber's Spirituality: Hasidic Wisdom for Everyday Life (2012), Redeeming Time: T.S. Eliot's ""Four Quartets"" (2007), Martin Buber's ""I and Thou"": Practicing Living Dialogue (2003); he also edited Dialogically Speaking: Maurice Friedman's Interdisciplinary Humanism (2011).