By The Rev Brian Jackson, Minister Emeritus, Timperley Congregational Church (From Messenger Newspapers)

By The Rev Brian Jackson, Minister Emeritus, Timperley Congregational Church

10:33am Thursday 14th June 2012 in Thought for the week

LAST year the Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sachs published The Great Partnership, subtitled God, Science and the Search for meaning.

He is a trained philosopher but he has the gift of writing about profound truths in a style that is easy to read, yet deep in meaning.

He is well-versed in Christianity as well as his native Judaism.

The first of the three main sections of the book is called God and the Search for Meaning.

One of his core statements says that science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean.

In the second main part of the book Sacks asks what are the important consequences of a loss of meaning and purpose in life?

He identifies five consequences.

The third part of the book is called Faith and its Challenges.

Instead of argument between science and religion, he calls for conversation, because if science is about the world that is, and religion about the world that ought to be, then religion needs science because we cannot apply God’s will to the world if we don’t understand it.

Equally science needs religion to give meaning to what would otherwise be simply collections of facts.

This is a book which is rewarding to read; it is written deceptively simply, yet is profound.