From the Editor

A Time for Courage Peter Mommsen Words such as “crisis” and “collapse” pepper headlines, and few dismiss them as alarmism. All is not well – on this, at least, there is broad consensus. Courage – heart, etymologically – seems to be what we’re in need of today...

Essays

The Teacher Who Never Spoke Maureen Swinger A formidable young man stayed with our family on a summer break from the Ivy League. He had never, to anyone’s knowledge, lost an argument. Until he met my brother Duane, that is – my brother, who had never learned to speak... The Soil of Friendship Marcus Peter Rempel A cab pickup truck pulled up at the farm promptly at ten o’clock. Five men piled out ready for work. “I’ve got rubber boots, Marcus, rubber boots,” one of them intoned as he blinked and rocked back and forth...

Reading

Confronted by Dorothy D. L. Mayfield I picked up a button about a decade ago with a quote attributed to Dorothy Day on it: “If you have two coats, you have stolen one from the poor.” I loved this saying, loved the strength of conviction, the easy black-and-white application... The Art of Courage Dorothy Day What does everyday discipleship look like? In her letters and diary entries, Dorothy Day lays out what discipleship involves in words that ring true because they come from a woman who lived them without compromise. Why We Hope Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt The Lord Jesus gives us a task on earth: “Watch! – Watch for my coming!” (Matt. 24:42). This is a most important assignment. If we fulfill this task – to watch for Christ’s coming – we will find it becoming reality now. The Need of Refugees E. C. H. Arnold Will anyone whose heart is stabbed by the awful misery of the refugees ... either give shelter to one or two himself or do his best to make it possible for us to welcome more of those who are living in such tragic circumstances?

Poetry

Harlem Postcards Chris Zimmerman In these three Easter poems, a Harlem resident reflects on the signs of Christ he sees among city residents, on grubby streets, and in Central Park on a rainy day.

Reviews

Listening to Silence Sam Hine Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel is magnificent and harrowing – and leaves us with more questions than answers. This historically grounded tale of religious persecution probes the core of what it means to follow Jesus.

Editors’ Picks

Editors’ Picks Issue 12 Sam Hine Plough’s editors share their best reads of recent weeks. This issue (Plough Quarterly No. 12, Spring 2017) they feature The Unsettlers by Mark Sundeen, and Subversive Jesus by Craig Greenfield

Family and Friends

At the March For Life Trevor Wiser Participants at this year's March For Life event in Washington, DC reflect on their encounter with the pro-life movement. Why the Death Penalty Must Die American Christians are largely responsible for the continued existence of the death penalty in their country, according to Shane Claiborne's book Executing Grace: How the Death Penalty Killed Jesus and Why It's Killing Us.

Lives

God’s Cop Sam Hine Detective Steven McDonald was shot in the line of duty in 1986 and paralyzed from the neck down. Confined to a wheelchair and dependent on a ventilator to breathe, he forgave his teenage assailant. Read his remarkable story. Traudl Wallbrecher Bernhard Koch Shocked to the core by the Holocaust, in 1948 a young woman began her lifelong search for a living, authentic church. She would go on to cofound a Catholic community inspired by the first church as described in the New Testament. Here is her story. The Man Who Welcomed Immigrants Shannon McPherson Mark is gone. The news wasn’t a shock; I had known it was pending. But that didn’t soften the impact for me or for thousands of other Americans: North, South, and Central Americans alike... The legacy of Mark Zwick.

Another View

“What is Truth?” Nikolay Ge Russian artist Nikolay Nikolayevich Ge (1831–1894) is best known for his realist paintings of biblical subjects. Ge painted “What is Truth?” late in life after befriending author Leo Tolstoy.

Comic

T. S. Eliot’s “Little Gidding” Julian Peters Inspired by a visit to the site of a 1625 religious community, Eliot’s poem portrays the choice he saw facing humanity: to be destroyed in the fires of war or to allow that fire to purify and restore. An artist interprets Eliot’s lines.

Forum

Readers Respond Issue 12 We welcome letters to the editor. Here are some readers' responses to articles that appeared in Plough's Winter 2017 issue, Alien Citizens.

Doers

The Happy Nuns Rebekah Domer Learning joy through self-denial from the Sisters of Life: What would cause any woman to trade a successful career for a vowed life of poverty, chastity, and obedience? I wanted to learn more about this vibrant fellowship of women.

Inklings

Insights on Courage Teresa of Avila, Mother Teresa, George Bernard Shaw, Meister Eckhart “As long as we want to get something from God in some kind of exchange, we are like merchants...”; “God does not deny himself to anyone who perseveres...”; “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die...”

Interview

Bonhoeffer in China Yu Jie What is the cost of radical discipleship? In this article, Plough interviews dissident writer Yu Jie about his experiences as a persecuted Christian in China and his thoughts on community, inspired by a dissident from another era. The Comandante and the King Raúl Suárez, as told to Susan Arnold A veteran Cuban pastor speaks about his conversion, reveals how a direct encounter with Christians thawed Fidel Castro’s atheism, and shares his vision for Cuba’s economic and spiritual future.

Forerunners

Thomas Müntzer Jason Landsel Who was this man who, five hundred years later, remains one of the most formidable, and also one of the most controversial, voices of the early German Reformation?