Category: Summer/Autumn 2016

Secular Death

For those who are no longer Christian, might writing and reading difficult literature be a training ground for approaching the agonies of loss? By Amy Hollywood

Rethinking the Sacred

For the authors in this issue, experiences of film, literature, and sound are often inseparable from religious experience. By Ingrid Norton

Two Poems by Saar Yachin

“Default” and “Disclosed” by Saar Yachin, translated from the Hebrew by Alexandra Zelman-Doring

Two Poems by León Felipe

“The Dead Come Back” and “Prayer” by León Felipe, translated from the Spanish by Walter Smelt

Church-State Confusion Persists

The Myth of American Religious Freedom, by David Sehat, reveals the long struggle in U.S. history over how to preserve or disentangle the religious and the secular. By David D. Hall

Nostalgia Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens anticipates and addresses the concerns of a nostalgic audience. By Robert Hensley-King

The Grace of the Lord Jesus be With All

A pilgrimage to the Gambia and a visitation by his ancestors led this African American minister to a greater appreciation of other religious traditions. By Brad R. Braxton

Bertha Mason Is Sacred

After feeling disillusioned by the injustices done to Jane Eyre’s madwoman in the attic, a reverant reader finds greater blessings on the other side of betrayal. By Vanessa Zoltan

Sci-fi as a Queer Genre

By revealing alternate worlds, science fiction can unsettle what we know to make room for what’s possible. By Taj M. Smith

On Habit

The habit of playing music for church turns out to be the most important healing practice during a difficult year. By Michelle C. Sanchez

From Silence to Light

A daughter’s spiritual awakening enables her to give words to the silent sufferings of her family. By Lina Feuerstein

Mourning the Unknowable

Knut Hamsun’s novel Hunger helps a young woman grapple with her memories of a mother who was in the world but not of it. By Meghan Guidry

Growing into Faith

How the organic, homespun nurturance of the author’s Jewish faith imbued in him a sense of awe. By Robert Israel

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