Featured

Young girl wearing red apron handing a plate with pie to a seated man in dark hat and glasses.
Serving Kings
Never look down on a human being unless you’re trying to pick them up.
Interview
Elderly man leaning on a window sill of a colorful geometric-patterned wall.
Up Hill
Through their art and stories, the residents of one Medellín neighborhood have transformed the pain of their history into a sense of place.
Adriano Cirino
Report
Colorful paintings of three diverse faces: man in cap with night sky, woman in headwrap, and bearded man with glasses.
Save Your Sympathy
John Thornton reviews This City Is Killing Me by Jonathan Foiles.
John Thornton Jr.
Review
Black and white photo of a street musician playing guitar while a toddler stands and watches nearby.
City of Bones, City of Graces
The city stinks. This city, that city, every city everywhere.
Joseph Bottum
Essay
Abstract city skyline with buildings in yellows and oranges on a brown background with dripping paint effects.
Small Acts of Grace
Laying the first beams of the scaffolding that will support a rebirth of community-based Christian witness in Pittsburgh.
Brandon McGinley
Essay
Man dressed in a colorful costume with a large hat and orange feathers sitting in a wooden barrel.
City of Clubs
These were clubs, places where public persons secreted away and made themselves private.
Clare Coffey
Essay

From the Editor

Hand-drawn star-shaped fortification plan with annotations on aged parchment.
In Search of a City: Issue 23
Why should a magazine named after a farm tool bring out an issue on cities?
Peter Mommsen
From the Editor

Insights

Black and white aerial view of a river, bridge, and dense cityscape with skyscrapers in foggy weather.
Digging Deeper: Issue 23
A reading list of books about cities.
Susannah Black Roberts
Digging Deeper
Smiling woman with sunglasses and colorful scarf in front of a hillside neighborhood with dense housing.
In the Valley of Lemons
The people who live here are “as tough as lemons.”
Jose Corpas
The Doers
Rusty metal sculpture made from disassembled gun parts arranged on thin rods.
Beneath the Tree of Life
The City of the Age to Come
N T Wright
Reading
Colorful impressionist painting of a sunset sky above mesas with silhouetted trees in the foreground.
Not Just Personal
The conscience must be directed toward the kingdom of God.
Eberhard Arnold
Reading
Blurred motion of people walking near a fountain in a nighttime urban square.
Sidewalk Ballet
Under the seeming disorder of the old city is a marvelous order.
Reading
Painting of an adult and child holding hands walking down a reflective street with other figures in the background.
The Eternal People
Is the eternal city full of gilded towers?
Philip Britts
Reading
Black and white abstract landscape with sun or moon rising over curved hills and radiating lines.
The Pilgrim City
Love of God made the heavenly city.
Augustine of Hippo
Reading

Web Exclusives

Winter city street with horse-drawn carriages and people walking near historic buildings and bare trees.
Another Hundred People
The city challenges us to contend with our comparative smallness.
Tara Isabella Burton
Young boy in striped shirt walking on paved plaza near benches and green trees in a city setting.
Cities for Children
Cities are ready-made education far from the classroom.
The Accidental Urbanist
An interview with singer-songwriter Dar Williams.
Dar Williams
Arched ceiling with detailed green and gold tile patterns and brickwork in a grand historic building.
Leaving the Church Doors Open
Love is not meant only for the easily loved.
Terence Sweeney

Arts & Letters

Colorful textured painting of densely packed houses in various bright hues.
Urban Series (Neighborhood)
His artwork is inspired by how ordinary people “respond to social, political, and economic forces in their daily living.”
Another View
Stained glass artwork of a man in blue overalls kneeling by a stove or furnace with red fire inside.
Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”
What did I know, what did I know / of love’s austere and lonely offices?
Julian Peters
Comic
Sketch of a woman holding a baby touching her face gently.
From “In the Holy Nativity of Our Lord”
The Babe looked up and showed his face, / In spite of darkness, it was day.
Poem
Two people lighting candles together in a dimly lit space, their reflections on nearby glass.
The Last Christians in the News
News commentary and media coverage of Plough’s book, The Last Christians by Andreas Knapp.
Plough Quarterly magazine cover depicting people walking on train platform under glass roof, titled In Search of a City.
Covering the Cover: In Search of a City
This issue’s cover needed a city on it, but it also needed people.
Rosalind Stevenson
Covering the Cover
Toddler sitting in high chair reading a Plough Quarterly magazine with dinosaur pajamas.
Readers Respond: Issue 23
Letters to the editor: readers respond to our fall issue.
Forum