Sacks to receive prestigious Templeton Prize

The Templeton Prize, valued at £1.1 million [$1.5 million], is bestowed by the John Templeton Foundation based in Pennsylvania in the US.

By JEREMY SHARON
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (photo credit: BLAKE EZRA PHOTOGRAPHY)
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
(photo credit: BLAKE EZRA PHOTOGRAPHY)
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks has been awarded the 2016 Templeton Prize, one of the world's largest annual awards given to an individual, which honors people who contribute to a living person “affirming life’s spiritual dimension.”
Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013, has authored numerous books on Judaism and the role of religion in the modern world, and is seen as a prominent public intellectual who promotes faith as a positive and critical component of contemporary life.
The Templeton Prize, valued at £1.1 million [$1.5 million], is bestowed by the John Templeton Foundation based in Pennsylvania in the US.
“Religion, or more precisely, religions, should have a voice in the public conversation within the societies of the West, as to how to live, how to construct a social order, how to enhance human dignity, honor human life, and indeed protect life as a whole,” said Sacks following the announcement of the 2016 prize.
Sacks said the prize money would enable and encourage him to continue his work promoting the voice of religion in the public conversation, strengthening mutual respect between faiths, and inspiring young leaders to take the work forward into the future.