Britain’s New Religious Genius

Last night I had the joy of getting together with my esteemed friend Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who was at Princeton to give a lecture based on his new book on religion and science. His talk was characteristically brilliant. Religion is ubiquitous in human society, but religious geniuses are rare. Britain, an officially Anglican nation, produced a Catholic religious genius in Queen Victoria’s time: John Henry Newman. (True, he began as an Anglican.) It has produced a Jewish religious genius in ours: Jonathan Sacks. In his exemplary humility, the Chief Rabbi would be embarrassed by the comparison, but it is, in my opinion, fully warranted. He is a teacher of people of every faith, and even those who, for now at least, are without faith. Speakers who come to Princeton often say that they are honored to be speaking at our University. In this case, the speaker truly honored the University by his presence.