Editorial

In Defiance of All Powers Peter Mommsen What’s the point of freedom? Which kinds of freedom might be worth dying for?

Reflections

Form and Freedom Hannah Rose Thomas, C. M. Howell and Malcolm Guite A visual artist, an architect, and a poet celebrate the freedom of coloring within the lines. Disciplines for Freedom Bill Gardner A doctor learning how to die of cancer finds guides in Simone Weil, Iris Murdoch, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Pedro Arrupe.

Dispatch

Encounters at the Southern Border Robert Donnelly Who are the migrants seeking asylum in the United States? The Open Road Christina Cannon I went on a roadtrip down Route 66 looking for freedom.

Essays

The Workers and the Church Sohrab Ahmari What happened to the Christian tradition of supporting workers’ rights? The Body She Had Rosemarie Garland-Thomson If only her parents had been spared the terrible freedom of having to choose whether to have a child with a disability. Become Slaves to One Another John M. G. Barclay Paul’s letters probe the paradox of freedom through love. Paraguayans Don’t Read Santiago Ramos In a dictatorship, literature nurtures freedom. In a democracy, does it matter? Taking Lifelong Vows Dori Moody Poverty, chastity, and obedience bring a different kind of freedom. Bad Faith or Perfect Freedom King-Ho Leung Sartre and Augustine reflect on what it takes to be free. American Freedom and Christian Freedom Benjamin Crosby Freedom is central to American ideals and to the Christian faith, but there is danger in confusing the two.

Personal History

Recovering from Heroin and Fiction Jordan Castro I sought freedom in drugs and novels. They couldn’t save me. The Autonomy Trap James R. Wood Is commitment just for suckers? A conversion story.

Reading

Yearning for Freedom Augustine of Hippo, Dorothee Soelle, Hans Scholl and Oscar Romero Four thinkers across the centuries reckon with Christian freedom. Arvo Pärt’s Journey Joonas Sildre In this excerpt from Between Two Sounds, we see the moment when the Estonian composer begins to run afoul of the Soviet regime.

Poetry

Poem: “And Is It Not Enough?” Malcolm Guite The poet relishes the beauty of autumn, but sees the stripping away that comes with it.

Editors’ Picks

An American Mother Forgives Sharla Moody In American Mother, Diane Foley recounts her journey to forgive her son’s killers. I Cheerfully Refuse Despair Joy Marie Clarkson In Leif Enger’s novel I Cheerfully Refuse, one man fights against despair (and wrongdoers) in a post-apocalyptic world. The Glory of God Is a Human Being Fully Alive Elizabeth Wainwright In Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times, Elizabeth Oldfield uses the seven deadly sins to point towards the seven heavenly virtues.

Family and Friends

The Forgiveness Project Marina Cantacuzino In London, an unconventional project shares stories of forgiveness. Humanizing Medicine Margaret S. Chisolm In Baltimore, the Paul McHugh Program for Human Flourishing gets med students talking.

Bible Reflection

The Bible’s Story of Freedom Heinrich Arnold Scripture tells an unfinished history of liberation.

Community Snapshot

The Busted Bean Maureen Swinger Follow an old school bus’s transformation into a space for coffee and camaraderie.

Forum

Readers Respond Readers respond to Plough’s Summer 2024 issue, The Good of Tech.

Interview

An Exodus From China Pan Yongguang A persecuted house church chooses to flee together as a community.

Report

A Lion in Phnom Penh J. Daniel Sims An insider reckons with complicity and compromise in Cambodia’s aid industry.

Forerunners

Jakob Hutter, Radical Reformer Emmy Barth Maendel and Susannah Black Roberts In just three short years, the sixteenth-century martyr founded a church that has endured to this day.

Covering the Cover

Covering the Cover: Freedom Rosalind Stevenson Birds, boats, broken chains . . . freedom brings to mind many visual metaphors.