Coming from many directions geographically and theologically, 12 divines of the present day meet in these elegant pages, their voices distinct and authoritative, yet all harmonising to create a worldview of spiritual comfort and meaning. Here are the well-known leaders - Pope Benedict XVI and the Dalai Lama - alongside Michihisa Kitashirakawa and Sri Mata Amritanandamayi, leaders within the Shinto and Hindu communities. Here are Christian leaders and Muslim leaders from different denominations - Catholic and Southern Baptist, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox, Shiite and Sunni. Each of the 12 religious leaders is represented individually by a folio of pages that contains a first-person account of his or her spiritual path, illustrated by powerful photographs of private and public moments.In among the portraits are the answers given by these religious leaders to the questions posed to them by the Naudet brothers. A single section of this thought-provoking book, for example, poses the question "What is your message to mankind - believers and nonbelievers?" and carries brief, heartfelt answers from an Ashkenazy rabbi, a Sunni imam, a Russian Orthodox patriarch, a Shinto jingu daiguji, a Sikh jathedar, a Hindu leader, and a Lutheran bishop.
Another asks "What is worth fighting for? What is worth dying for?" Answers come from all directions: Sunni Muslim, Shiite Muslim, Southern Baptist, Lutheran, and Jewish. An appendix provides authoritative sketches of all 12 religions represented by the leaders featured in the book.