Editorial

What Is Health? Peter Mommsen My grandfather’s best summer was the one he spent dying.

Dispatch

Healing at Annoor Heather M. Surls A hospital in Mafraq, Jordan, cares for patients with tuberculosis.

Essays

Chronically Healthy, Chronically Ill Aberdeen Livingstone Living with a chronic illness, I’ve traveled between the kingdom of health and the kingdom of sickness. Against Self-Optimization David Zahl The wellness industry sells you a version of yourself it can’t deliver. Hope lies elsewhere. What My First Psychiatric Patient Taught Me Abraham M. Nussbaum Sharon could hardly leave the house. She showed me the wonder and limits of therapy. The Return of the Family Doctor Brewer Eberly The direct primary care model aims to put relationships over profit. Abraham’s Warring Children Kelsey Osgood After October 7, can a Muslim-Christian-Jewish center in Abu Dhabi make any difference? In Defense of Pint and Pipe Malcolm Guite Smoking and drinking carry known risks. Here’s why I haven’t given them up. What Families with Autistic Children Know Sam Tomlin For parents of neurodiverse children, church and school can be another hurdle.

Personal History

A Disabled Savior Devan Stahl The wounds of a resurrected God help us live with ours. Desire, Use, Repeat James Mumford An addict looks for a way out.

Reading

Health Is Belonging Edith Stein, Wendell Berry, Teresa of Ávila and Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt Four thinkers stretch our understanding of disease and its remedy.

Poetry

Poem: “On the Staten Island Ferry” A. E. Stallings “She’s beautiful,” says the girl, “even though she’s green!” Poem: “The Stump (Athens, Greece)” A. E. Stallings Why had they planted a dead stump? Poem: “It Could Be Worse” A. E. Stallings It could be worse, my dear, it could be worse.

Fiction

Merelots: Armenia’s Day of the Dead Narine Abgaryan “What use do the departed have for liturgy?” an Armenian mother reflects on a visit to the grave of her stepson, in this short story. Tights Narine Abgaryan If only I had grabbed warm tights for her. During a lull between explosions, she darted out to grab warm clothes, and her daughter chased after her.

Editors’ Picks

Visions Under the Serviceberry Tree William Thomas Okie Robin Wall Kimmerer envisions a new economy in her book The Serviceberry. Heroines of the Reformation Coretta Thomson In Merry Wiesner-Hanks’s book Women and the Reformations, nuanced narratives show both the flaws of heroines and their tenacity. The Revenge of the Fox Spirit James Smoker Yangsze Choo’s The Fox Wife is a delightful blend of genres: detective story, romance, and fairy tale.

Family and Friends

Growing Roots in Portugal Claudio Oliver A small intentional community moves continents and finds new neighbors. Orthodox Stonemasonry Alan Koppschall A crew of master builders build houses using old methods.

Community Snapshot

Little Person, Big Welcome Maureen Swinger Bringing home a baby on the Bruderhof is no small affair.

Forum

Readers Respond Readers respond to Plough’s Spring 2025 issue, Why We Work.

Interview

In Pursuit of Homefulness John Swinton The biblical understanding of health is not biomedical.

Portfolio

The Faces of the Bhopal Disaster Cristiano Denanni Forty years after history’s worst industrial accident, survivors still live in its shadow.

Report

In Deep Water off Antarctica Jessica T. Miskelly On an icebreaker off the coast of Antarctica, I felt a warming planet’s pulse. The Exploitation of Immigrant Care Workers Hazel Thompson Hidden in plain sight, foreign health aides in UK care homes face exploitation.

Forerunners

The Repentance of Bartolomé de las Casas Terence Sweeney A slaveholding colonizer becomes a defender of the Indigenous.