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Since 1900, the Christian Century has published reporting, commentary, poetry, and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society.
© 2023 The Christian Century.
A young poet shaped by religious language
“When I was nine or ten, I decided I needed to read the King James Bible.”
Philip C. Maurer interviews Nate Marshall
Ross Gay’s fierce, radiant joy
To love the world as an American black man is a subversive act.
Christian humanism in a technocratic world
Alan Jacobs's biography of T.S. Eliot, Simone Weil, W.H. Auden, Jacques Maritain, and C.S. Lewis
Writing poetry as a step toward common ground
“My workshops are not designed to create poets. I am using poetry as a catalyst.”
Hillary Frances interviews Jacinta White
Remembering Mary Oliver and her prose
The poet’s essays are winsome and articulate, wide-ranging and intellectually rigorous.
The value of God-shaped art
T. S. Eliot and the other modernist theologian-poets knew that artists are makers of worlds.
Poetry for a world that’s falling apart
Jeremiah Webster charts a via negativa in verse.
Christian Wiman’s stubborn, slippery faith
We need faith, Wiman suggests, because poetry isn't enough.
What wondrous poems are these
James Crews's poetry is at once ecstatic, skeptical, and hopeful.
by Anya Silver
Poetry for the sake of creation
In the face of unprecedented assaults on planet Earth, what good is poetry?
How Christian was Meister Eckhart?
The eccentric preacher's ideas hover between God's absolute otherness and God's self-revelation in Christ.
by John Wilson
Tracy K. Smith’s lovely, unflinching poems
Smith is acutely aware of injustice and violence—and remarkably hopeful about the possibility of reconciliation.
Christian Wiman and the poetry of joy
In this anthology of poems selected by Wiman, joy comes in modest and unlikely guise.
Poetry and transience
National Poetry Month is over, but there's plenty of good poetry to get us through the next 11 months.
Sydney Lea's poetry of memory
After many years looking at life in all its idiosyncrasies, Lea offers his 12th collection. It's intimate and authentic.
Poetry grounded in place
Paul Willis's poems reveals epiphanies in the midst of everyday life.
In these troubling times, we asked some of our favorite writers to tell us about books (and other things) that bring hope and healing.
Tales of different lands
Literature and film from England, Hungary, Japan, and Korea
The pleasures of good poems
This year, I've read the poetry of Mark Jarman, Tess Taylor, and Nicole Sealey with gratitude.