Boundaries and Community: Rules for Re-Engagement (Building Community)

Boundaries and Community is an essential guide for building bridges  in a world marked by deep divisions. Across eleven concise chapters, this book offers practical tools and reflective insights for fostering meaningful connections within and across racially, ethnically, politically, and religiously divided communities. Rather than simply describing the problems that fracture our collective lives, it provides a hands-on toolkit for addressing them and empowers readers to move beyond ideological stalemates and take constructive action.

Each chapter tackles a critical challenge of collective life – shared experience, collective responsibility, individual rights and communal belonging, social trust,   and more – offering a clear “rule” for action, real-life examples, and thought-provoking questions for group discussion. By modelling a forum for open, community-engaged dialogue, the book equips concerned citizens with strategies to address local issues without resorting to polarized formulas of the right or left.

Boundaries and Community serves as both diagnosis and roadmap, helping readers orient themselves in today’s polarized climate and inspiring them to forge new pathways for cooperation and understanding. Whether you are a community leader, organizer, or simply someone who cares about collective well-being, this book provides the tools and inspiration to act together – even with those with whom you fundamentally disagree.

Adam B. Seligman is a professor of religion at Boston University and a founding director of CEDAR – Communities Engaging in Difference and Religion.