The Dignity of Difference - by Jonathan Sacks (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

'Aims to define nothing less than a basis for religiously sensitive civilisation.'
Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

'The Dignity of Difference has a central and compelling vision: the magnificence and inspiring human diversity of our world ... The Chief Rabbi has made a convincing case for respecting people of different faiths and creeds.' Jewish Chronicle

This redesigned and reissued edition of The Dignity of Difference was Rabbi Jonathan Sacks's radical proposal for reconciling hatreds and includes . Updated for 2025 with a new foreword by Simon Schama.

Almost a quarter of a century ago, the tragedy of September 11 is remembered today as the moment the world woke up to the dangers posed by religious differences and intolerance. In this iconic and critically acclaimed book, reissued with a new foreword, Rabbi Sacks asked, can religion still become a force for peace?

The Dignity of Difference was the first major statement by a Jewish leader on the ethics of globalization. At the time of writing, the politics of identity had began to replace the politics of ideology that dominated the globe in the twentieth-century. Now Rabbi Sack's heartfelt, clear-sighted and radical proposal for how we might reconcile our differences without violence is as relevant as ever. In it, Sacks argues that we must do more than just search for values common to all faiths. To avoid the clash of civilisations, we must celebrate our differences and respect all the many ways cultures have searched for meaning, so that people of all faiths and none can live together in respectful harmony.

A highly readable and beautifully written book that offers readers the perfect antidote to troubled times.

Review Quotes

"Aims to define nothing less than a basis for religiously sensitive civilisation." --Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, The Jewish Chronicle

"Americans will be taken with his incisive and clear writing style...he provides some much-needed spiritual uplift in this post-9/11 world, and his work is accessible to informed lay readers." --Library Journal

"This book is far more interesting for its discussion of faith and philosophy than for its determination of concrete politics. Perhaps this is the task of rabbis, to explain and guide rather than to rule and legislate. Jonathan Sacks writes well; every sentence counts, but the space behind the grandiloquence always leaves room for interpretation. It is this ambiguity which wins him as many admirers as detractors." --The Jerusalem Post

"The Dignity of Difference has a central and compelling vision: the magnificence and inspiring human diversity of our world ... The Chief Rabbi has made a convincing case for respecting people of different faiths and creeds." --Jewish Chronicle

"The book "has a bold and important thesis" said Lord Habgood, especially in how it addresses relations between different faiths." --Church Times

"Unlike most other religious leaders, Mr Sacks has a wonderfully unbigoted attitude; he thinks and writes with great eloquence supported by an amazingly broad range of sources and reading." --Journey

"It is odd that a leading orthodox Rabbi should be at the forefront of a campaign to use religious difference as the catalyst for world peace ... in a brave polemic which is bolstered by feverish intelligence." --The Herald (Glasgow)

"Once in a rare while a book comes along that is so powerful and so earth-shattering that we want to get atop the highest mountain and shout out its praises...WE MUST ALL READ THIS BOOK....the most profound and deeply moving argument in favor of religious humanism I can think of." --Center for Sephardic Heritage, David Shasha

"Sacks does not offer much help in determining how religious people are to grapple with such theological questions. His brilliant service is in showing us that we must." --Paul F. Knitter, International Bulletin of Missionary Research

"It is a profound meditation on human diversity and religious differences....It is a timely book for both believers and non-believers alike that has a profound sense of history running through it." --Limited Edition

"...wonderful book...bold and controversial." --Commonweal

"The Dignity of Difference is an important contribution to our understanding of the impact of globalization on the world in the aftermath of September 11...the book should be required reading for those concerned with the present struggle between Islam and the West and the promises, but also the potential threat, that market globalization represent." --Jewish Book World Quarterly Review

About the Author