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Immigration continues to be a contentious issue (CT cover story, May 15, 1995; see also CT, Feb. 6, 1995, p. 42, on the fallout from California's Proposition 187). At this writing, the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is debating a bill that would significantly reduce the number of immigrants entering under the heading of "family reunification." Adult children of U.S. citizens and brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens would no longer receive preferential consideration.

Knowledge of the history of immigration does not resolve all the issues that policymakers and ordinary citizens must wrestle with, but it should be brought to bear on the debate. Thus the publication of the fourth edition of "Ethnic Chicago: A Multicultural Portrait," edited by Melvin G. Holli and Peter d'A. Jones (Eerdmans, 648 pp.; $29.99, paper), is particularly timely. While certain chapters reflect the distinctive character of Chicago's ethnic mix (Anita Olson on the Swedes, for instance, and Edward Kantowicz on the Poles), this collection is really an ethnic history of America in microcosm. Thus, chapters on European immigrant groups and African Americans are followed by studies of Latino Chicago ("By the year 2000, one of every four Chicago residents will be Hispanic, demographers predict") and of the city's Chinese, Japanese, Asian Indian, and Korean communities. The bulk of the volume is devoted to such profiles of individual groups, but there is also a section on "Ethnic Institutions," including a fine essay on the ethnic church (which touches on church architecture as well).

In their introduction, the editors write, " 'Ethnic democracy' in a multicultural, ideologically egalitarian society such as ours emerges only with painful slowness over the years, as group after group jockeys for position. Ethnic history is not a mere local argument, a battle for 'freedom' and against 'prejudice.' We seek an ethnic history for its own sake, a richly detailed and informing portrait, warts and all, of varying ethnic communities, their values, social structures, inner dynamics, and everyday lifestyles." They have succeeded magnificently.

The Jesus I Never Knew
By Philip Yancey
Zondervan
288 pp.: $18.99, hardcover

Is the Gospel Bad News to You?
We have heard a good deal lately about the scholarly "quest for the historical Jesus." Philip Yancey has undertaken a personal quest to disencumber himself of false images of Jesus and encounter him anew. Here is an excerpt from a chapter on the Beatitudes.

Blessed are the poor in spirit," said Jesus. One commentary translates that "Blessed are the desperate." With nowhere else to turn, the desperate just may turn to Jesus, the only one who can offer the deliverance they long for. Jesus really believed that a person who is poor in spirit, or mourning, or persecuted, or hungry and thirsty for righteousness has a peculiar "advantage" over the rest of us. Maybe, just maybe, the desperate person will cry out to God for help. If so, that person is truly blessed.

Catholic scholars coined the phrase "God's preferential option for the poor" to describe a phenomenon they found throughout both the Old and New Testaments: God's partiality toward the poor and the disadvantaged. Why would God single out the poor for special attention over any other group? I used to wonder. What makes the poor deserving of God's concern? I received help on this issue from a writer named Monika Hellwig, who lists the following "advantages" to being poor:

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November 13 1995, Vol. 39, No. 13