Sacks, Jonathan – The Bell Bookshop

The Power of Ideas

Emma — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

From his appointment as Chief Rabbi in 1991, through to his death in November 2020, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks made an incalculable contribution not just to the religious life of the Jewish community but to the national conversation - and increasingly to the global community - on issues of ethics and morality. This volume brings together a compelling selection of Jonathan Sacks' BBC Radio Thought for the Day broadcasts, Credo columns from The Times, and a range of articles published in the world's most respected newspapers, along with his House of Lords speeches and keynote lectures.

Morality

Emma — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In today's world of cultural climate change, argues Jonathan Sacks, we have outsourced morality to the markets on the one hand, and to government on the other. Yet while the markets have brought wealth to many and the state has done much to contain the worst excesses of inequality, neither is capable of bearing the moral weight of showing us how to live. Talking to key modern influences and thinkers, and drawing inspiration from the Bible and the historical experience of the Jewish people, Sacks outlines the key factors in establishing, maintaining and passing on resilient moral values within a broad group.

Not In Gods Name

Emma — Thu, 19 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Despite predictions of continuing secularisation, the twenty-first century has witnessed a surge of religious extremism and violence in the name of God.

In this powerful and timely book, Jonathan Sacks explores the roots of violence and its relationship to religion, focusing on the historic tensions between the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Drawing on arguments from evolutionary psychology, game theory, history, philosophy, ethics and theology, Sacks shows how a tendency to violence can subvert even the most compassionate of religions. Through a close reading of key biblical texts at the heart of the Abrahamic faiths, Sacks then challenges those who claim that religion is intrinsically a cause of violence, and argues that theology must become part of the solution if it is not to remain at the heart of the problem.

This book is a rebuke to all those who kill in the name of the God of life, wage war in the name of the God of peace, hate in the name of the God of love, and practise cruelty in the name of the God of compassion.

For the sake of humanity and the free world, the time has come for people of all faiths and none to stand together and declare: Not In God’s Name.