Avoiding a clash of civilizations. (From The Editors' Desk).Britain's Chief Rabbi "Chief Rabbinate" redirects here. See also Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. , Dr Jonathan Sacks Not to be confused with Yonason Sacks. Rabbi Sir Jonathan Henry Sacks (born 1948, London) is the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom's main body of Orthodox synagogues. His official title is Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. , is one of the most respected commentators on the world's social, moral, ethical and spiritual condition. So when he makes a new statement about where the world is at, people listen. His visit to New York's Ground Zero last January, to share prayers with leaders of various faith traditions, has led to his reflections on `how to avoid a clash of civilizations'. They are contained in his remarkable new book The Dignity of Difference. He writes that, `against all expectations', the world's religious communities `have emerged as a key force in a global age'. He argues that God intended and even celebrates differences between faiths and cultures. A key event in the Hebrew Bible (and the Christians' Old Testament), he says, is the Tower of Babel Babel (bā`bəl) [Heb.,=confused], in the Bible, place where Noah's descendants (who spoke one language) tried to build a tower reaching up to heaven to make a name for themselves. , where `God splits up humanity into a multiplicity of cultures and a diversity of languages'. He says that God's message to Abraham, the father of the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam The historical interaction between Christianity and Islam, in the field of comparative religion, connects fundamental ideas in Christianity with similar ones in Islam. Islam and Christianity share their origins in the Abrahamic tradition though Christianity predates Islam by six , is, in effect: `Be different, so as to teach humanity the dignity of difference'. Globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation , he writes, is now summoning the world's great faiths to a supreme challenge, which we can no longer avoid. `Can we find, in the human other, a trace of the Divine Other? Can I, a Jew, hear the echoes of God's voice in that of a Hindu or Sikh or Christian or Muslim? Can I do so and feel not diminished but enlarged?' There are `moral universals', he says, which create space for cultural and religious differences. These include `the sanctity of human life, the dignity of the human person, and the freedom we need to be true to ourselves and a blessing to others'. Certainly the great faith traditions have not always been a blessing to others in the way they have been practised practised Adjective expert or skilled because of long experience in a skill or field: the doctor answered with a practised smoothness Adj. 1. . In his search for a theology adequate for an interdependent in·ter·de·pen·dent adj. Mutually dependent: "Today, the mission of one institution can be accomplished only by recognizing that it lives in an interdependent world with conflicts and overlapping interests" world, Jonathan Sacks is surely right when he writes: `We will make peace only when we learn that God loves difference and so, at last, must we. God has created many cultures, civilizations and faiths, but only one world in which to live together--and it is getting smaller all the time.' `The Dignity of Difference' by Jonathan Sacks, Continuum Books, 10.99. [pounds sterling] |
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