The Other Journal

“I believe that we’re all a little like Joseph; we all limit ourselves by our tried-and-true ways of doing things. We each have our own ways of dealing with personal, spiritual, and professional matters, our own ways of moving through this demanding season of the year.”

Feeling a little like Joseph? Spend some time this Advent season with the restorative and contextual exploration (and exhortation) shared by Melissa Skelton in “Do Not Be Afraid: A Meditation on Matthew 1:18-25.” https://theotherjournal.com/2011/12/do-not-be-afraid-a-meditation-on-matthew-118-25/

Do Not be Afraid: A Meditation on Matthew 1:18–25 - The Other Journal In this meditation on Joseph's discovery of Mary's pregnancy, Melissa Skelton urges us to embrace the voice of God speaking in the depths of our souls, and to not be afraid.

Issue 38: Money has launched! “Whereas money has led its logic to the structuring of doctrinal thought, theology has offered its prestige and mystique to monetary exchange. So the question of Christianity’s relation to and treatment of money is complex, contested, and ongoing.” Join us in exploring these complex conversations: https://theotherjournal.com/

Heading into a holiday weekend with some travel time, and looking for book recommendations? Or are you eager to share the recent read you enjoyed? Please join the conversation in the comments. To begin, here is a book review shared earlier this year from our Editor in Chief Zac Settle, one example of the writing and reviews in The Other Journal.

“...the subtitle is “Fifty Entries Against Despair,” and so it should be no surprise the text is such a joy to read. As a priest and editor who spends a lot of time reading theological writing, I find Wiman’s reflections on faith to be a breath of fresh air. He’s pushing himself and his readers to move beyond modes of faith that simply drive toward understanding and answer, as though we can ever arrive at some single, authoritative understanding of ourselves, God, or the mystery of the world itself.”

Take a look at The Other Journal archives for relevant content that explores questions of our time in poems, reviews, and creative art. theotherjournal.com

"They are the whole congregation
suspended, still, holding their breaths,
bathed in light of the noon-time sun,
their shadows under their feet

forever. Maybe forever.
They look to their brethren, in white,
and the preacher in the river,
waiting on the Holy Ghost."

"Take Me to the Water," Blake Leland's poem from our latest issue on Church, dives into a moment of sacrament captured on film. Read the whole piece on our website: https://theotherjournal.com/2024/07/take-me-to-the-water/

Take Me to the Water - The Other Journal from the collection of Jim Linderman It is a book of photographs, postal cards some of them, of people gathered at a river to witness and to be baptized. In this one, nothing at the horizon rises higher than the dark, open umbrellas, like little clouds, some ladies hold against the sun. At least a [...

“Just as the nested reality of a game is constantly affected by the real of the players and the world external to it, so too are we lost in our own imaginary-symbolic reality in which we are constantly being affected and moved by the real beyond us while also being unable to fully symbolize it. Games, thus, give us a chance to straddle two realities, inviting us to do the same with our material lives.” Read more by Paul Hoard in“On Pleasure and Games” from our latest issue.
https://theotherjournal.com/2024/07/on-pleasure-and-games/

On Pleasure and Games - The Other Journal Over the past couple of decades, the board game industry has exploded. Game-related stores, cafes, bars, and conventions have been popping up all over the world, and the game industry produced about $18 billion in revenue for 2022, a number that is expected to steadily rise.[1] Although this growth....