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    Current Issue 46FrontCover
    crucifix by a pine tree
    Home Subscribe Plough Quarterly

    Plough Quarterly No. 46: The Call of Beauty

    Winter 2026

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    On This Page

    Featured Articles

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    Essays

    Dogs, Deer, Herons, and the Promise of Beauty Peter Mommsen Beauty, says the French novelist Stendhal, is the promise of joy. But is it a promise we can trust? Can a Painting Save You? Sean Rubin My mother came to Jesus through a work of art. How Does Beauty Shape the Christian Imagination? Ben Quash A theologian tells the story of beauty, from Absalom’s hair to English country gardens. Children of Terabithia Caitrin Keiper What is there of beauty in losing an unborn baby? Six Ways to Resist the Machine Paul Kingsnorth The technological mindset is corrupting our souls. It’s time to fight. A Tree by Any Other Name Katelyn Beaty Befriending your backyard sycamore can change your relationship with the natural world. Icon or Idol? Natalie Carnes Christianity has a love-hate relationship with sacred art. Believing in the Last Judgment Christoph Cardinal Schönborn During two papal conclaves, I sat in contemplation below Michelangelo’s masterpiece. Those Hideous Stewards of Beauty Sergio Bermudez The gargoyles and grotesques on Notre-Dame Cathedral look down and see themselves in us. When Life Begins with Death Veronika Kabas In Vienna, a hospital offers palliative care to babies with debilitating diagnoses. One Hundred Years of Gossip Chris Zimmerman The Bruderhof’s first rule was written in 1925. After a century, does it still work?

    Personal History

    My Mother’s Hidden Radiance Brandon Vaidyanathan For years, her mental illness kept me from seeing her beauty. Beckoned by Beauty Kacey Sycamore How I stumbled into a story much bigger than my own – and found my way to the Bruderhof.

    Reading

    The Riddle of Beauty in Nature C. S. Lewis and Gregory of Nyssa Why the poets tell us lovely falsehoods about nature. The Art of the Beautiful Sergei Bulgakov and Iris Murdoch We are called not only to contemplate the beauty of the world, but also to express it. The Paradox of Beauty Pope Benedict XVI and Augustine of Hippo Can the beautiful be genuine, or is it only an illusion?

    Poetry

    Six New Poems by Wendell Berry Wendell Berry The great American writer addresses the thinning partition between this life and eternity.

    Editors’ Picks

    Academia Is Hell, Literally Elena Trueba Elena Trueba reviews R. F. Kuang’s novel Katabasis. The Science of Revenge Tim Maendel A new book helps us understand and overcome the world’s deadliest addiction. Theology and the Mythic Sensibility Adam Morton How might human myths and mythmaking participate in God’s own creative work?

    Family and Friends

    How We Feed One Another Sophie Caldecott Two community projects weave together care for nature and sharing good food. Monica Ribar Cornell, 1942–2025 Coretta Thomson A pillar of the Catholic Worker movement passes on.

    Community Snapshot

    The Backwoods Sculptor Chris Voll Barney Boller, a Bruderhof artist, shapes steel, bronze, clay, and wood.

    Doers

    Crafting Beauty Steven Toussaint, Bokani and Joanna Gill We asked a poet, a visual artist, and a composer to tell us what role beauty plays in their work.

    Portfolio

    Luna of Tasajera Philip Holsinger On a windswept island far from the gangs and prisons, I saw the future of El Salvador.

    Forerunners

    The Gospel Is Public Truth Stephen White Lesslie Newbigin, who worked as an evangelist in India and England, daringly reimagined what Christian mission could be.

    Featured Authors

    Ben Quash

    BenQuash3

    Professor Ben Quash holds the chair of Christianity and the Arts at King’s College London.

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    Wendell Berry

    WendellBerry

    Wendell Berry is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer.

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    Natalie Carnes

    NatalieCarnes

    Natalie Carnes is Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School and the author of several books.

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    Web Exclusives

    black and white photo of the Paimo Sanatorium

    Can Beauty and Justice Meet in Architecture?

    Kelly W. Foster
    metal sculpture in a garden

    Seeing Our Way to Humanity

    Coretta Thomson
    drawing of an open window

    The Transcendental and the Sacramental

    Benjamin P. Myers
    46FrontCover

    About This Issue

    Nature is so beautiful it must mean something. Christians have seen in the beauty of creation a sign of the beauty of the Creator; the natural world teaches us to know the “author of beauty.” But anyone who starts thinking more seriously about beauty soon runs into more troubling aspects. We’re more awash with images than ever before, many of them doctored or artificial. Any idealized beauty that excludes humankind’s imperfection and vulnerability is prone to becoming inhuman. And even the wholesome beauty of nature or the fine arts is only a partial truth in a world where children starve or are trafficked to abusers. Yet stubbornly, beauty remains. Through trees, gargoyles, paintings, and fellow humans, the writers in this issue ask hard questions to deepen our understanding and appreciation of the good, the true, and the beautiful.