Other Journal

The Other Journal is a space for Christian interdisciplinary theological refection that tackles the cultural crises of our time with verve and peculiar slant, advancing a progressive, provocative, and charitable response in sync with the peacefully contrarian Christ. In this issue, we consider the theme of authority from the vantage point of pews and hospital rooms, of jail cells, low-lit dining rooms, and ancient coin collections. We learn to hear the cries of those who have suffered abuse from the powerful, to resist with the Apostle Paul, and to consent to grace from the source of love beyond all earthly powers. Our authority issue features prose by Andrew DeCort, Lyle Enright, Steven Felix-Jager, Richard C. Goode, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, Vincent Lloyd, Mary McCampbell, Mary Lane Potter, Gavin Richardson, Hilary Jerome Scarsella, Rebecca Shirley, Heidi Turner, and Brandon Wrencher; poetry by Jill Bergkamp, Susan Carlson, Barbara Crooker, and Katie Manning; an exhibition by Douglas Coupland, mixed media by Sedrick Huckaby, and multimedia by Brent Everett Dickinson; and an interview with Devin Singh by Zachary Thomas Settle.

The literary critic and Marxist philosopher Fredric Jameson has said, it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism. The military, social, and political effects of capitalism are felt everywhere across the planet, and even as we acknowledge the negative effects--the imbalances of power, the imperialist exploitations, the social alienation--we are captivated by its message of self-sufficiency and success. In this issue, The Other Journal examines the potentially surprising intersections of Marxism with Christianity, the ways in which this nexus of thinking and faith may help us contend with and recognize the powers of the market.

FEATURING: Ken Gonzales-Day Angela Alaimo O'Donnell Shelly Rambo Frank Seeburger Chelle Stearns PLUS: God Gave Birth Tweeting the Impossible Forgiveness How Cancer Made Me Less of a Bastard (and More Human) What's Love Got to Do with It? Theodicy, Trauma, and Divine Love Naming the Animals --AND MORE . . .

FEATURING: Adam Joyce, Lincoln Harvey, Marcia W. Mount Shoop, Margot Starbuck, and Tim Suttle! PLUS: * Let's Dance: Zumba and the Imago Dei of Beautiful Black Bodies * Commercial Participation: Modern Sports Fandom and Sacramental Ontology * The Work of Play * Lines and Lines Athwart Lines * Singing with Losers --AND MORE . . . The ancient Olympic games were held every four years at the temple of Zeus. They were a major cultural and religious event that doubled as a contest between rivaling nation-states. Certain strands of mythology even suggest that Heracles, the strongest of mortal men, organized the event and built the Olympic stadium in honor of his father, Zeus. Today, few athletes devote their efforts to the honor of Zeus, but there remains a certain religiosity at work in sport's place within Western culture. Fame, fortune, and honor; character and fair play; skill and artistic perfection also remain at stake, just in new ways. As Marcia W. Mount Shoop explains in her interview with Jessica Coblentz, sports still "tap into our most primal existential needs for vitality, for purpose, for creativity, for connection and community, and for work and play," and in this, our twenty-fifth issue of The Other Journal, we dive into these characteristics of sport, starting literally with Jennifer Stewart Fueston's poem "A Swim" and then continuing on to the ancient Greek stadium at Nemea. Our contributors consider the ethics, commodification, and embodiment of particular events, as well as the personal and cultural stories which weave in and out of sport. They do the hard work of conscientious fandom at football games; walk us through baseball liturgies; and take us to the windy courts of Philo, Illinois, where noted author David Foster Wallace was an outdoor tennis savant. The issue features essays and reviews by Jeff Appel, Andrew Arndt, Ben Bishop, Jen Grabarczyk-Turner, Lincoln Harvey, Jonathan Hiskes, Adam Joyce, Lakisha R. Lockhart-Rusch, Benj Petroelje, Justin Randall Phillips, Heather L. Reid, Margot Starbuck, Tim Suttle, and John B. White; an interview by Jessica Coblentz with Marcia W. Mount Shoop; creative nonfiction by Brett Beasley, Meghan Florian, and Katie Karnehm-Esh; poetry by Bethany Bowman, Catherine Thiel Lee, and Jennifer Stewart Fueston; and art by Allen Forrest, Gerald Lopez, and Abigail Platter.

Nothing embodies the mystery of faith quite like prayer. Although sometimes an elusive practice that may baffle and confuse, prayer is not otherworldly, for it is in prayer, in talking and listening to our infinite, loving creator, that we truly find our way in this world. In the twenty-first issue of The Other Journal, contributors consider the transformative mystery of prayer in all its questions and practicalities. They carefully think through intercessory prayer and prayerful political theology and what it means to commune with God and one another. They dance, laugh, and pray like fools. The issue features essays and reviews by Emmanuel Katongole, Erin Lane, Timothy McGee, L. Roger Owens, Andrew Prevot, Carl Raschke, and Lauren Smelser White; interviews by Kate Rae Davis, Ashleigh Elser, Jen Grabarczyk, and SueJeanne Koh with Sarah Coakley, Peter Ochs, Dominique Ovalle, and Richard Twiss; and fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry by Mary M. Brown, Kate Rae Davis, Denise Frame Harlan, Katie Manning, Tania Moore, Jillena Rose, Nicholas Samaras, and Robert Vander Lugt.