What's Everyone Reading
- Thread starter Steve Williams
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The lessons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer should be mandatory reading for every high school student in America. Most surprising to me was the insights he gained in his understanding of people's connection to God from the time he spent in Harlem while studying religion here in the US. When he was young in Germany, he was taught as a strict Lutheran that only the white race could have a meaningful connection to God. But at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where Bonhoeffer taught Sunday school he formed a lifelong love for African-American spirituals. He heard Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., preach the Gospel of Social Justice and became sensitive to not only social injustices experienced by minorities but also the ineptitude of the church to bring about integration. When he heard Gospel music in Harlem, and the power it conveyed, he realized that his Lutheran teachings were misguided and indeed all people, including people of color, had just as much "right" to believe in God as any white man. The man was a hero in more ways than one in trying to stop Hitler and defying the ruling Lutheran ministry that prevailed under the Nazi's. He was truly exceptional and paid the ultimate price by being arrested and executed by the Nazis for leading a failed plot with his brother to assassinate Hitler.
An excellent documentary on Bonhoeffer (2003) is available on Netflix and is a terrific story of this remarkable man.
https://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Bonhoeffer/60029227
The documentary is much preferred to the movie about him made in 2000 called Agent of Grace. You can skip that one.
Marty
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Thanks for the Netflix link Marty didn't know about that one, agree with the Agent of Grace, not interesting.
david
An Amazon Best Book of the Month for February 2015: There’s a statistic that surfaces early in Jill Leovy’s fundamentally important book Ghettoside that should catch your attention: black men compose about 6% of the country’s population, yet they are the victim in nearly 40% of homicides. And who’s killing those black men? The answer is most often other black men. Leovy, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, explores the culture of black violence, specifically in South Central LA, describing a world that seems to exist hermetically sealed off from the rest of the city. With nearly zero mobility and little policing, the people of South Central are left to fend for themselves—further amplifying the devastating drumbeat of gangs and violence. Leovy builds her book around one family’s story: Wally Tennelle, an LA cop, has refused to move his wife and kids out of his Watts neighborhood. Then his youngest son is murdered (unlike most murders in the area, this one was covered by the local media). Through the gathering of evidence, the roundup of suspects, and the trial that ultimately comes to be—all spearheaded by John Skaggs, a very dedicated and capable LA homicide detective—Leovy makes the argument that what places like South Central need is more policing, not less. They need more attention—not debate, finger pointing, and inaction. – Chris Schluep
A friend recommended this one to me...Beautifully written and I'm sure it loses something in the translation. Supposedly not his best, but I'm really enjoying.
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