The Home We Build Together - by Jonathan Sacks (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Rabbi Sacks' thesis on the future of British society and the dangers facing liberal democracy. With a new foreword by Daniel Finkelstein.

Arguing that global communications have fragmented national cultures and that multiculturalism, intended to reduce social frictions, is today reinforcing them, Sacks argues for a new approach to national identity, making the case for "integrated diversity" within a framework of shared political values.

Britain, he argues, will have to construct a national narrative as a basis for identity, reinvigorate the concept of the common good, and identify shared interests among currently conflicting groups. It must restore a culture of civility, protect "neutral spaces" from politicization, and find ways of moving beyond an adversarial culture in which the loudest voice wins. He argues for a responsibility- rather than rights-based model of citizenship that connects the ideas of giving and belonging.

Offering a new paradigm to replace previous models of assimilation on the one hand, multiculturalism on the other, he argues that we should see society as "the home we build together", bringing the distinctive gifts of different groups to the common good. Sacks warns of the hazards free and open societies face in the twenty-first century, and offers an unusual religious defence of liberal democracy and the nation state.

Review Quotes

"...wonderfully articulate and highly readable book" --David Alton, The Main Universe

"We, the majority, could want no more eloquent and intelligent advocate than Jonathan Sacks to 'speak for England', or indeed for Britain." --David Martin, The Tablet

"Identity in a post-multicultural society will have a new foundation, if Sacks has his way." --The Tablet

"I found Mr Sack's detailed examination of social contracts and civil society, which he suggests is best grounded in covenantal commitments, most interesting... I was encouraged by Mr Sack's vision." --Journey Online

"British Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks is the premier public intellectual of Judaism in the English-speaking world and has no obvious counterpart in the communities of Judaism conducted in other languages. No one in Israeli intellectual life competes ...This book joins with its predecessors...to form an oeuvre of moral authority and compelling logic. For a corpus of writing substantially less ambitious than this some have received the Nobel Prize." --Jerusalem Post

"There is much of great wisdom here, for readers of all faiths and none." --Bishop of Thetford

"Sacks confronts issues many would prefer to ignore and presents responses which will make some people uncomfortable. Nevertheless these are issues we have to address if we want to enjoy social cohesion." --IPA Review

"This important book...addresses a crucial theme" --Church Times

"A deeply philosophical, yet extremely hard-hitting book." --Doreen Wachmann, Jewish Telegraph

"[Sacks] argues like an expert dancer, leading his audience through a waltz of lilting reasonableness." --Rafael Behr, Observer

About the Author