Karl Westerhof's Page

I just read a review in the Int'l Herald Trib of 3/12 about a book called More Than Just Race - Being Black and Poor in the Inner City, by Wm Julius Wilson. Has anyone read this? What should America be doing about what this review calls "isolated and impoverished black ghettos"?
Of course the prescription depends on the diagnosis - is the problem caused by attitudes and behaviors of the poor themselves? Or, are there systemic and institutional patterns and policies and practices that lie at the… Continue

A little justice group is forming to meet on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at Hope Reformed.... last night Dr. Tom Boogaart from Western Sem spoke to us about justice in Genesis. Justice actions are sacramental actions, he said. He suggested that as bread and wine are "signs" that point us beyond themselves to Jesus, so also acting justly is a sign that points beyond itself to the God of the Bible. and this nourishes our connection to him, and thus prevents burnout. Of course it's al… Continue

I wonder if anyone else read the NY times magazine last Sunday.... the article on Obama as the "end of black politics" . I thought it was the best article on race relations, especially B/W race relations and politics, that I've read in years. Being something of a luddite, I read it while holding the paper in my hands after having bought it in the book store. I can't say anything about whether you could find it online.... but I imagine that wouldn't be too hard. I believe the author was Bei. (don… Continue

I'm getting ready to teach a college level course in basic comm devel from a reformed christian perspective. I'd like to know from YOU - what is the one book you think should be required reading? ok - in addition to the Bible, of course.
karl

I was looking up the word "duh" in the dictionary but I couldn't find it.
My dictionary was too old.
Duh.
Actually, I wanted to use it in talking to myself, especially about a conversation I had with another human being last week. He was rather passionately telling me about the inanities of liberals and the value of realistic capitalists to address the world's problems, especially re poverty and injustice.
I said something like this, "i'm no economist, and I fear to speak about economic or busin… Continue