I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the side columns of my blog.  Up until now I have had a typical blogroll where I list some of my favorite blogs.  The only problem is that there are at least 3x’s more that I read but are not listed.  To include them all it would be too much.  The same goes for "Must Read" books and "Must Hear" albums.

So I’ve decided to take a different approach.  Each week just check out the left hand column for the Blog, album and book of the week. 

This weeks…

Blog of the Week is the blog of Anthony J. Carter over at Non Nobis Domine.  Anthony is  cofounder of the Black Alliance for Reformed Theology and assistant pastor for preaching and teaching at Southwest Christian Fellowship in Atlanta.  I first became aware of Mr. Carter when I read his book, "On Being Black and Reformed:  a new perspective on the African-American Christian experience."  And I look forward to reading his new work entitled, "Hesed:  a word better than life."

Album of the Week is "Duke In Blue" by Ellis Marslalis (yes, he’s the father of Branford and Wynton).  This album is a tribute to Duke Ellington. 

Book of the Week is a must read for anyone who wants an inside look at the American prison system.  It is the "Gates of Injustice" by Alan Elsner.  Why do we have more than 2 million prisoners, making the USA 6-10 times more likely to lock people away than other Western societies.  Did you know that the largest mental institutions are located right here in the USA.  As a matter of fact, the three largest mental wards are the Los Angeles County Jail, Rikers Island in New York and Cook County Jain in Chicago.  I guess we know what we did with our mentally ill when we began closing psychiatric hospitals.  There is a crisis in America’s prisons and this book exposes it.  Never forget what Dostoyevsky said, "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."  For that matter, never forget why Jesus said he came in Lk. 4.18ff.