The Power of Ideas: Words of Faith and Wisdom

’One of the world’s great voices for moral, spiritual, and historical awareness and for global peace’ - The John Templeton Foundation

’One of the great moral thinkers of our time’ - Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone

With a foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales

Following his death in November 2020, voices from around the world celebrated Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’ incalculable contribution to the religious life of the Jewish community, as well as the global conversation on issues of ethics and morality.

This volume brings together the most compelling selection of Jonathan Sacks’ BBC Radio broadcasts, 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.

First heard and read in many different contexts, these pieces demonstrate with striking coherence the developing power of Sacks’ ideas, on faith and philosophy alike. In each instance he brings to bear deep insights into the immediate situation at the time - and yet it is as if we hear him speaking to us afresh, giving us new strength to face the challenges and complexities of today’s world.

His words of faith and wisdom shine as a beacon of enduring light in an increasingly conflicted cultural climate, and prove the timeless nature and continued relevance of his thought and teachings.

The choice with which humankind is faced is between the idea of power and power of ideas.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who passed away in November 2020, was an international religious leader, philosopher, award-winning author and respected moral voice. He served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 until 2013 and was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize in 2016 in recognition of his work affirming life’s spiritual dimension. He held a number of professorships at universities in Britain, the United States and Israel and was a frequent and respected contributor to radio, television and the press around the world.