From the Editor

The Art of Community Peter Mommsen Can art convey both beauty and truth? Editor Peter Mommsen takes on modern skepticism and ancient Christian artistic aims.

Essays

Warriors on Stage Scott Beauchamp A veteran asks if theater can help heal the moral injury of soldiers returning home from the battlefield. The Beauty of Belonging Roger Scruton Wherever people build, decorate, and shape things with a view to belonging, a kind of order emerges. It Could Be Anyone Navid Kermani A Muslim writer contends with two Christian paintings: an ancient icon of the Virgin Mary, and Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew. All About Light Fadi Mikhail If an icon is about anything at all, it is firstly about light. Why We Live in Community: A Manifesto Eberhard Arnold Liberal capitalism has forgotten to ask fundamental questions about how we are to live: questions about justice, freedom, and community. The Sacred Bonds of Sound Sarah Ruden Have the sounds of worship been lost in translation? Sarah Ruden on the importance of silence and sound in scripture. Making Music for Community Maureen Swinger With music in her heart and an array of people ready to sing, this 92-year-old composer has found a life of fulfillment in community. A Man of Honor Emily Hallock People with same-sex attraction who want to follow Jesus may be among the most important witnesses of our time.

Reading

Making a Work of Art John Berger Each great artist’s vision sprang from the conviction that life could be better, richer, and truer than it was. The Business of the Artist Dorothy L. Sayers The church should use a decent humility before the artist, whose business it is to serve God in his own technique and not in somebody else’s. The Creative Process James Baldwin The artist must never cease warring with society, for its sake and for his own, to show the loneliness of birth, suffering, love, and death.

Poetry

I Did Not Leave Cozine Welch Jr. Poet Cozine Welch Jr. takes us behind bars to look – truly look – at the men who stand in the prison common room.

Reviews

Editor’s Picks Issue 18 Sam Hine Plough’s editors share their best reads of recent weeks. This issue (Plough Quarterly No. 18, Autumn 2018) they feature books by Eliza Griswold, Alissa Quart, Nathan Englander, and Eugene Vodolazkin.

Family and Friends

Family and Friends: Issue 18 News from Plough’s family and friends around the world: forgiveness in South Sudan, and peace-building in Colombia.

Another View

Giant Picnic JR An anonymous installation artist held a picnic at a giant table that spanned the border fence between Mexico and California. His table had eyes…

Comic

Excerpt: Mandela and the General John Carlin and Oriol Malet Will the freedom struggle end in a bloodbath? Only two men can avert it…

Community Snapshot

Summer of the Tree House Maureen Swinger What was your childhood dream house? Join one family in a summer adventure as they build their own Tolkien-inspired tree house.

Forum

Readers Respond: Issue 18 Readers respond to our summer issue, discussing addiction, transgenderism, and what it means to be human.

Doers

Return to Appalachia Susannah Black Roberts When funding cuts endanger the arts program in their Appalachian hometown, two graduates of Parsons School of Design return to teach art in a barn.

Inklings

Insights on Beauty Insights on the nature of beauty, from Jacques Maritain, Dorothy Day, Basil of Caesarea, and Annie Dillard.

Forerunners

Wassily Kandinsky Jason Landsel Using the remedies of color and shape, Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky wanted to bring about spiritual restoration.

Covering the Cover

Covering the Cover: The Art of Community A closer look at the cover for Plough Quarterly 18.