For the benefit of what I’m sure are the scant few of you that don’t already read his Grace, may I bring your attention to his latest missive. The text of the speech given by Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks at The Pontifical Gregorian University, it’s not the shortest thing you’ll read but it’s well worth the time. The question addressed (paraphrased somewhat in my title) is that of “Has Europe Lost its Soul?”
For those of you still reading this rather than going over to His Grace to read the text already allow me to give you a slight taster:
“As the political leaders of Europe come together to try to save the euro, and with it the very project of European Union, I believe the time has come for religious leaders to do likewise, and I want to explain why.
What I hope to show in this lecture, is first, the religious roots of the market economy and of democratic capitalism. They were produced by a culture saturated in the values of the Judaeo-Christian heritage, and market economics was originally intended to advance those values.
Second, the market never reaches stable equilibrium. Instead the market itself tends to undermine the very values that gave rise to it in the first place through the process of “creative destruction.”
Third, the future health of Europe, politically, economically and culturally, has a spiritual dimension. Lose that and we will lose much else besides. To paraphrase a famous Christian text: what will it profit Europe if it gains the whole world yet loses its soul? Europe is in danger of losing its soul.“
