Featured

Behind the Black Umbrellas
A Portlander talks with the black-clad anarchists and Proud Boys battling in his hometown.
Patrick Tomassi
Dispatch
Graphic of a knight on a horse with lance aimed at a roaring dragon’s head with red accents.
Beyond Pacifism
To be a Christian means serving as a soldier. This is no mere metaphor.
Eberhard Arnold
Essay
Painting of a person leaning close to a baby lying down on warm-toned textured background.
The Risk of Gentleness
I was shocked to find I was pregnant during a pandemic. Then I learned how subversive hospitality can be.
Gracy Olmstead
Essay
With Love We Shall Force Our Brothers
Peace is not quiet. The work of creating peace requires confrontation with the forces that undermine it.
Anthony M. Barr
Essay
Two people walking towards a building entrance with Nazi swastika banners displayed inside.
We Will Not Be Silent
With an entire nation blindly following an evil leader, where did a handful of students find the courage to resist?
Andrea Grosso Ciponte
Comic
Girl in blue hijab with yellow headband resting arms on desk looking at camera with books and pen on table.
Call to Prayer, Call to Bread
Eighteen years among Somali Muslims in the Horn of Africa taught an American Christian much about prayer.
Rachel Pieh Jones
Personal History

From the Editor

Brown stylized bird feeding four smaller birds with open beaks against a light green background.
The Case for Meekness
Before 2020, society overwhelmingly agreed: using violence for political ends ought to be out of bounds.
Peter Mommsen
From the Editor

Insights

Impressionist painting of a vivid sunset with radiant sun and silhouetted trees on horizon.
Militant Peacemaking
Pacifism is unrealistic – unless it’s conformed to Christ.
Stanley Hauerwas
Reading
Close-up of a serious man with a shaved head and a blue background.
Did You Kill Anyone?
I was ready for that question, the biggest and most intimidating. It would hang as an ominous backdrop to nearly every conversation about my time in Iraq.
Scott Beauchamp
Reading
Collage of old newspaper clippings about German Brotherhood, outlaws, and protests from 1939.
A Life That Answers War
A Bruderhof member, my grandfather is an ardent conscientious objector to military service. But resistance to war has shaped his entire life.
Scott Button
Essay
Abandoned urban lot with graffiti walls and rubble, featuring red circles marking spots on the ground.
The Great Escape
For those trapped in the violence of poverty, rap tells heroic tales of breaking free.
Zito Madu
Essay
Silhouette of a person standing with light beams shining behind in a dim indoor space.
The Minimalist
The boxer to beat calls for help.
Springs Toledo
Personal History

Web Exclusives

Man wearing glasses standing with arms crossed outside a building with a large cross on the wall.
Forgiving Judas
The patient work of reconciliation.
Denise Uwimana
Colorful stylized portrait of a man with white beard, mustache, glasses, and long hair on a teal background.
Suffering with God
The prophetic legacy of Abraham Joshua Heschel.
Susannah Heschel
Stylized illustration of five abstract human figures in brown shades raising one arm each.
Is Human Life Always Sacred?
What Peter Singer got right that C. S. Lewis and John Paul II got wrong
Charles E. Moore
Essay

Arts & Letters

Close-up of cracked ice over dried leaves and earth on the ground.
Poem: “March Thaw”
Overhead, skeins of geese ya-honk as they pass. / The dwindling snow crust, an eggshell of glass,
Catherine Tufariello
Poetry
Child wearing a mask and striped pants mid-step casting an extended shadow on a white wall with tree shadows.
Poem: “Candid”
Someone she loved, and who loved her, held the camera / And pointed it suddenly, teasing. The focus is blurred.
Catherine Tufariello
Poetry
Close-up of a weathered angel statue with wings against a sunset background.
Poem: “Annuals”
When we go limp and brown, for mercy’s sake / leave us alone; don’t mangle our last shoots / to press in any book; we have no stake / in memory.
Rhina P. Espaillat
Poetry
Window with sheer floral curtains and a partially visible dark curtain on the left side.
Poem: “The Widow Offers Herself to Life”
Make me your herald, Life: send me ahead / to hail you, as the earliest light is doing / for each day, and the scent of coffee brewing.
Rhina P. Espaillat
Poetry
Abstract expressionist portrait of a face with closed eyes in black, orange, and white brush strokes.
Poem: “Mary Magdalen Responds to the Harsh Judge”
Be honest, please: I long to know / why judging others makes you glad: / does my uncleanness make you sad, / or lift you high as I am low?
Rhina P. Espaillat
Poetry
Car side mirror with raindrops reflecting blurred lights and wet surroundings at dusk.
Poem: “In Retrospect”
What did he need to prove, / to no one but himself? What made him so / harsh with himself when others found him better— no, best—at everything? We’ll never know.
Rhina P. Espaillat
Poetry
Young girl with brown hair in a white checkered dress looking backward while walking on a sidewalk.
Poem: “A Backward Look”
Some of us turned out much like Mama, though / a silent “No!” / crept into every dialogue, and kept / some secrets swept / into dark corners.
Rhina P. Espaillat
Poetry
Close-up of a painting with green leaves and pink-red roses on light background.
Poem: “Where Nectar Was”
Thinking of you, all day I rediscover / myself still here, wondering where you went.
Rhina P. Espaillat
Poetry
Close-up portrait of an elderly woman resting her face on her hand, smiling gently.
Poetry You Can Touch
Plough’s poetry editor speaks with poet Rhina P. Espaillat, who recently turned eighty-nine.
A. M. Juster
Rhina P. Espaillat
Interview
Book cover of 'Charis in the World of Wonder' by Marly Youmans with illustrated figures and horse.
Editors’ Picks: Charis in the World of Wonders
Joy Clarkson reviews Marly Youmans’s Charis in the World of Wonders: A Novel.
Joy Marie Clarkson
Review
Book cover of The Reindeer Chronicles by Judith D. Schwartz with a snowy reindeer herd and sunset colors.
Editors’ Picks: The Reindeer Chronicles
David R. Montgomery reviews Judith D. Schwartz’s The Reindeer Chronicles And Other Inspiring Stories of Working with Nature to Heal the Earth.
Review
Book cover: I Ain't Marching Anymore, about dissenters, objectors, and deserters in America’s wars by Chris Lombardi.
Editors’ Picks: I Ain’t Marching Anymore
Bill Galvin reviews Chris Lombardi’s I Ain’t Marching Anymore: Dissenters, Deserters, and Objectors to America’s Wars.
Review
Cover of 'Floaters' poetry book by Martín Espada with black and white photo of man and woman holding child.
Editors’ Picks: “Floaters”
Sheryl Luna reviews Martín Espada’s Floaters: Poems.
Review