THE GREAT PARTNERSHIP

In this challenging book Jonathan Sacks sets out a clear and vigorous argument for the complementary nature of science and religion, ranging widely through history and philosophy to prove that both are necessary if we are to understand the human condition.

Drawing comparisons from different cultures and delving deep into the history of language and of western civilisation, Jonathan Sacks shows that the current battle between science and religion is based on a false dichotomy. The tired arguments of militant atheists must be set aside. Faith has always played a valuable part in human culture, inspiring people to moral greatness and enabling them to build communities where individuals are cherished and loving kindness is practised. Far from being dismissed as irrelevant, religion has a vital role in tempering and developing the scientific conversation – for history clearly teaches that when a society loses its soul, it will soon lose its future. ‘The story I am about to tell concerns the human mind’s ability to do two quite different things. One is to break things down into their constituent parts and see how they mesh and interact. The other is to join things together so that they tell a story, and to join people together so that they form relationships. The best example of the first is science; of the second, religion. Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean.’ Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks is admired by non-Jews as well as Jews, by secular as well as religious thinkers, and is equally at home in the university and the yeshiva. A well-known writer and broadcaster, he has authored eighteen books including Radical Then, Radical Now, The Dignity of Difference and, most recently, Future Tense. His titles currently in print in English, include: Community of Faith, (Peter Halban London 1995); One People: Tradition, Modernity and Jewish Unity (The Littman Library London 1993);The Persistence of Faith (Continuum London 2005);The Politics of Hope ( Vintage London 2000); Celebrating Life (Continuum London 2006);Radical Then, Radical Now (Continuum London) published in the USA as: A Letter In the Scroll (The Free Press New York 2000); The Dignity of Difference (Continuum London New York Toronto 2003); Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s Haggadah (Continuum New York 2007); From Optimism to Hope (Continuum London 2004); To Heal A Fractured World (Continuum London 2006,Schocken New York 2007); The Home We Build Together (Continuum London New York Toronto 2009); The Authorised Daily Prayer Book (HarperCollins London 2006); Future Tense (Hodder London 2009, Schocken New York 2010) ‘One of the most engaging thinkers of our time’ The Times ‘Britain's most authentically prophetic voice’ Daily Telegraph ‘Jonathan Sacks's voice carries unique moral authority far beyond the Jewish community’ The Tablet Many of his books have been translated into French, Italian, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Korean, Russian and Hebrew.