Plough Quarterly No. 29 - Beyond Borders

Can

we move beyond borders that divide us without losing our identity?

Over

the past decade, the

yearning for rootedness, for being part of a story bigger than oneself, has

flared up as a cultural force to be reckoned with. There's much to affirm in this

desire to belong to a people. That means pride in all that is admirable in the

nation to which we belong - and repentance for its historic sins.

A

focus on national identity, of

course, can lead to darker places. The new nationalists, who in Western

countries often appeal to the memory of a Christian past, applaud when

governments fortify borders to keep out people who are fleeing for their lives.

(Needless to say, such actions are contrary to the Christian faith.) Is our

yearning for roots doomed to lead to a heartless politics of exclusion? Does

maintaining group or national identity require borders guarded with lethal

violence?

The

answer isn't artificial schemes for universal brotherhood, such as a universal language. Our differences

are what make a community human. Might the true ground for community lie deeper

even than shared nationality or language? After all, the biblical vision of

humankind's ultimate future has "every tribe and language and people and

nation" coming together - beyond all borders but still as themselves.

In this issue:

- Santiago Ramos

describes a double homelessness immigrant children experience as outsiders in

both countries.

- Ashley Lucas

profiles a Black Panther imprisoned for life and looks at the impact on his

family.

- Simeon Wiehler

helps a museum repatriate a thousand human skulls collected by a colonialist.

- Yaniv Sagee

calls Zionism back to its founding vision of a shared society with

Palestinians.

- Stephanie

Saldaña finds the lost legendary chocolates of Damascus being crafted in Texas.

- Edwidge

Danticat says storytelling builds a home that no physical separation can take

away.

- Phographer River

Claure reimagines Saint-Exupéry's Le

Petit Prince as an Aymara fairy tale.

- Ann Thomas tells

of liminal experiences while helping families choose a cemetery plot.

- Russell Moore

challenges the church to reclaim its integrity and staunch an exodus.

You'll also find:

- Prize-winning poems

by Mhairi Owens, Susan de Sola, and Forester McClatchey

- A profile of Japanese

peacemaker Toyohiko Kagawa

- Reviews of

Fredrik deBoer's The Cult of Smart,

Anna Neima's The Utopians, and Amor

Towles's The Lincoln Highway

- Insights on

following Jesus from E. Stanley Jones, Barbara Brown Taylor, Teresa of Ávila,

Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr., Eberhard Arnold, Leonardo Boff, Meister

Eckhart, C. S. Lewis, Hermas, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Plough Quarterly features stories,

ideas, and culture

for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth

articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus'

message into practice and find common cause with others.