The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations

2001 began as the United Nations Year of Dialogue between Civilizations. By its end the phrase most widely quoted was "the clash of civilizations." The tragedy of September 11 intensified the danger posed by religious differences throughout the world. As the politics of identity replaces the politics of ideology, can religion overcome its conflict-ridden past and become a force for peace?
The Dignity of Difference is Rabbi Johnathan Sack's radical proposal for reframing the terms of this important debate. The first major statement by a Jewish leader on the ethics of globalization, it introduces a new paradigm into the search for co-existence. Sacks argues that we must do more than search for common human values. We must also learn to make space for difference, even and especially at the heart of the monotheistic imagination. The global future will call for something stronger than earlier doctrines of toleration or pluralism. It needs a new understanding that the unity of the Creator is expressed in the diversity of creation.

The chief rabbi of Britain and the Commonwealth, Sacks is well known through his appearances on British television and through his 12 books (e.g., A Letter in the Scroll). Americans will be taken with his incisive arguments and clear writing style. What he presents here is not a treatise on Jewish faith and customs but a look at the discontents of our world and how religious values can unite rather than divide us. Sacks sees certain values (e.g., education, responsibility, charity) as imperative to any new world order, regardless of one's religious beliefs. Though these values might seem self-evident, he shows how their absence causes much that is wrong. He further exhorts us to explore more covenantal relationships, which he defines as "a bond, not of interest and advantage, but of belonging" and sees as paramount to our survival-more so than commercial relationships, however essential they are to capitalist society. Throughout, Sacks makes reference to demanding philosophical thought, but he provides some much-needed spiritual uplift in this post-9/11 world, and his work is accessible to informed lay readers. Larger libraries should consider.
Paul Kaplan, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.