Book Review — “Community” by Peter Block

This is more than just a book. It’s a model of how to be together.

“Whatever it is you care about, to make the difference that you see requires a group of people to learn to trust each other and choose to cooperate for a larger purpose.” (Pg. xii)

And that right there is as good a summary for this book as there is. It’s a book about building trust. It’s a book about being in community. It’s a book about how to communicate with one another. It’s a book about belonging.

I found Block’s book to be really important on two levels. First, he tackles the idea of community on an idea level — why it’s important and the challenges that we face in coming together as community. In our culture, we have this over emphasis on individualism. But in order to accomplish almost anything, you can’t do anything alone. You need others. And that takes change.

“…the transformation of large numbers of individuals does not result in the transformation of communities. If we continue to invest in individuals as the primary target of change, we will spend our primary energy on this and never fully invest in communities. In this way, individual transformation comes at the cost of transformation.” (pg. 6)

Ultimately, community is about interdependence. So much of what Block writes about relates to the concept of shalom — the Jewish idea of wholeness. He doesn’t use the term explicitly, but the concept is there throughout the book. Block contrast this with what we have…