Submissions
The Other Journal welcomes the submission of critical essays, reviews, creative writing, and visual or performance art that encounter life through the lens of theology and culture; we seek pieces that consider the interaction of faith with contemporary life, art, politics, sexuality, technology, economics, and social justice. We are particularly interested in works which present creative, alternative views that may otherwise fall outside the margins of mainstream narratives. And although we primarily focus on perspectives within the Christian tradition, we invite dialogue with all who are interested in exploring the ongoing role of faith and spirituality in the world.
If you are interested in contributing, please check out our issue-specific themes below and browse our archives for a better sense of the content that we accept. And when you’re ready to submit, click the button below.
Call for Papers
Issue 38: Money
Closing Date: April 30, 2024
The Christian tradition has had much to say about money. And this makes sense: Christ spoke more about the topic of money in the New Testament than any other subject. Christ both relativized its worth (i.e. “render undo Caesar what is Caesar’s) and implied in his exchange with the rich young ruler that the status of one’s salvation is somehow bound up with their relation to their wealth (or lack thereof). And the theological tradition has followed suit, speaking of money in spiritual, ethical, and theological terms.
Recent decades have witnessed Christian theologians wrestling with and responding to the evolving state(s) of capitalism in creative and challenging ways. In his infamous God the Economist, Douglas Meeks developed the notion of “God as economist” to critique the corrupted logic of the modern market. Even if the market assumes the absence of God, Meeks argued, it functions according to certain God-concepts, which justify domination in the economic sphere. More recently, in her 2015 Gifford Lectures, Kathryn Tanner explored the ways the cultural forms animating the latest iteration of finance-dominated capitalism shape human lives and points to the ways in which those ever-pervasive forces might be contested and countered by Christian belief and practice. Taking a significantly different approach in his fascinating book Divine Currency, Devin Singh interrogated the relationship between economic ideas and religious thought, arguing that monetary thought has come to be infused in the very conception and practice of Christian doctrine. 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.
And the import of that conversation has only recently intensified in light of the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which the world’s richest 10 men doubled their wealth. Wealth inequality continues climbing at exhausting rates, and the broad structures that enable such distribution don’t seem to be slowing down. And while money has no inherent value, it does make a concrete and profound impact on every human person in ways both seen and unseen. Money can make the difference flourishing and suffering, freedom and constraint, and ultimately between life and death.
In the next issue of The Other Journal, we seek theologically-infused contributions on these themes of money. The following are some—but certainly not all—of the questions authors might wish to consider: In what ways does money limit or enable flourishing? How ought contemporary Christians navigate the pressures and demands of finance-dominated capitalism? What resources from within the Christian tradition and Scriptures might we utilize to inform faithful practices and uses of wealth? Is wealth inherently problematic for the Christian faith from the perspective of the New Testament? In what ways might the labor movement(s) inform contemporary practices of faith? What might non-capitalist modes of entanglement and mutual belonging practically look like?
We seek essays, creative writing, art, and reviews that uniquely engage this complex conversation. As always, we are particularly interested in contributions that tackle these themes with verve and slant, contributions that open our ears to the peacefully contrarian Christ by way of their distinctive style, ideas, and progressive consideration of the other.
More information on our submission guidelines, including our email address, can be found on our Submissions page.
Details for Invited Authors:
- Essays should aim to be 2,000–4,000 words in length. Maximum length is 5,000 words.
- The Other Journal uses the Chicago Manual of Style.
- The deadline for submission of the first draft of your essay is April 30, 2024
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