Stanley Hauerwas

Andrea Grosso Ciponte

Eberhard Arnold

Rachel Pieh Jones

Scott Beauchamp

Catherine Tufariello

Springs Toledo

Anthony M. Barr

Gracy Olmstead

Zito Madu

Patrick Tomassi

How did violence become OK? And is there any way back? At some point between George Floyd's killing on May 25 and the invasion of the US Capitol on January 6, America's consensus against political violence crumbled. Before 2020, almost everyone agreed that it should be out of bounds. Now, many are ready to justify such violence - at least when it is their side breaking windows or battling police officers. Something significant seems to have slipped. Is there any way back? As Christians, we need to consider what guilt we bear, with the rise of a decidedly unchristian "Christian nationalism" that historically has deep roots in American Christian culture. But shouldn't we also be asking ourselves what a truly Christian stance might look like, one that reflects Jesus' blessings on the peacemakers, the merciful, and the meek? Oscar Romero, when accused of preaching revolutionary violence, responded: "We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross." If we take Jesus' example and his call to nonviolence at face value, we're left with all kinds of interesting questions: What about policing? What about the military? What about participating in government? This issue of Plough addresses some of these questions and explores what a life lived according to love rather than violence might look like. In this issue: - Anthony M. Barr revisits James Baldwin's advice about undoing racism. - Gracy Olmstead describes welcoming the baby she did not expect during a pandemic. - Patrick Tomassi debates nonviolence with Portland's anarchists and Proud Boys. - Scott Beauchamp advises on what not to ask war veterans. - Rachel Pieh Jones reveals what Muslims have taught her about prayer. - Eberhard Arnold argues that Christian nonviolence is more than pacifism. - Stanley Hauerwas presents a vision of church you've never seen in practice. - Andrea Grosso Ciponte graphically portrays the White Rose student resistance to Nazism. - Zito Madu illuminates rap's role in escaping the violence of poverty. - Springs Toledo recounts his boxing match with an undefeated professional. You'll also find: - An interview with poet Rhina P. Espaillat - New poems by Catherine Tufariello - Profiles of Anabaptist leader Felix Manz and community founder Lore Weber - Reviews of Marly Youmans's Charis in the World of Wonders, Judith D. Schwartz's The Reindeer Chronicles, Chris Lombardi's I Ain't Marching Anymore, and Martín Espada's Floaters Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus' message into practice and find common cause with others.

Plough Quarterly No. 27 - The Violence of Love

Most American soldiers in Iraq had a deep, thick plastic box called a “guerrilla box” which usually sat at the end of their cot. Soldiers would keep all kinds of things in their box. Weapon cleaning kits. Extra equipment. Blankets and pillows from home. Footballs. Protein powder. Mine was full of books. These are not confessions. Nor are they essays. Nothing is off the table in Did You Kill Anyone?, a hybrid compendium of thoughts and observations whose narrative thrust is propelled and shaped by the inquiry itself. Drawing from and elaborating on years of the author’s work on the peripheries of this subject, published in such outlets as The Paris Review, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and The American Conservative, Did You Kill Anyone? asks a question that is rarely, if ever, discussed publicly: ‘why do soldiers miss war?’. With the intimacy of a memoir and the force of a critical analysis, Scott Beauchamp gives his daring, counterintuitive take, interrogating the frivolous conformity of our increasingly inhuman(e) culture.

Reunderstanding My Military Experience as a Critique of Modern Culture

Did You Kill Anyone?

John Berger

John Carlin

Roger Scruton

James Baldwin

Dorothy L. Sayers

Sarah Ruden

Kermani Navid

Fadi Mikhail

Susannah Black

Maureen Swinger

Emily Hallock

Can beauty save the world? These days criticism of art--whether visual, musical, or literary--is often marked by a suspicion of beauty. What happened to the belief that the creativity of the artist reflects the creativity of the Maker of heaven and earth, and that art can therefore be a channel for divine truth? Anyone who has joined with others to sing Bach's Saint Matthew Passion or stood before a painting by Raphael or Chagall can attest to this. At such moments, art binds people together. This issue of Plough focuses on art that leads to such community: through theater, painting, music, and the objects and architecture of everyday life. And while art fosters community, building community is itself a work of creativity. Also in this issue: original poetry by Cozine Welch Jr.; reviews of new books by Eliza Griswold, Alissa Quart, Eugene Vodolazkin, and Nathan Englander; and art by Denis Brown, JR, Valérie Jardin, Isaiah King, Isaiah Tanenbaum, George Makary, Oriol Malet, Alex Nwokolo, Ashik and Jenelle Mohan, Raphael, Aaron Douglas, Winslow Homer, Vincent van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, and Jason Landsel. Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus' message into practice and find common cause with others.

Plough Quarterly No. 18 - the Art of Community

Scott Beauchamp

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