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 39: Death
Closing Date: October 1, 2024
The question, What is death? is one which is always with us.
It is part of the givenness of our lives. It is a question which we can try to suppress,
but it will always be there. Even in the question itself death is present.
Death, in its inevitability affects us in our very innermost being.
It compels us to ask Why? What comes afterwards?
How am I to understand death?
— Eberhard Jüngel
Death holds a fascinating, central place in Christian theology. The tortuous death of a human believed to be God incarnate is often understood as uniquely salvific. Indeed, the heart of the Christian narrative depends on Jesus’ humility and obedience “to the point of death—even death on a cross.” The remembrance of that day marks one of the most crucial feasts in the church’s liturgical calendar: Good Friday. Yet the event of death is difficult to speak about with any clarity, because to experience means one is no longer among the living.
The Christian tradition is riddled with fascinating stories of death. Lazarus dies and is resurrected by Jesus, but he presumably dies another natural death some years later. Most of Jesus’ closest disciples were brutally killed for their faith before Christianity became the Roman Empire’s official religion. Perpetua sought after martyrdom, and Julian of Norwich’s mystical experiences began with her sudden recovery, having been at death’s door steps. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed for participating in an assassination attempt to prevent further death of Jews in the Holocaust. Jürgen Moltmann has infamously said that Jesus suffered the death penalty in order to end the death penalty, all of which led to his own protest of the State of Georgia’s practice of execution. Still, other theologians, like Delores Williams, problematize the way so many Christians treat Jesus’ tortuous crucifixion as being somehow salvific.
Death is the great equalizer among humanity. Our deaths are not events that can be avoided, hard as the medical and tech industries might try. Human beings were created to be finite, which is to say we are all on a timeline toward death. No one can deny their own mortality. Everyone, including you, dear reader, will someday die. You are now closer to death than you were yesterday, and none of us really know what lies on the other side of life’s doorway. This is simply part of what it means to be human. But that need not always be bad news. Christians also believe that death can, under certain circumstances, be a holy event if the person has the resources to receive it as such. Death, after all, is not the last word; resurrection awaits. And so it’s possible, with the right resources and circumstances, to die a holy death—in hope of entering into the bliss that is life before God.
Despite the universal reality of death that will come to each human life, not every person experiences the same kind of death. Some people die too soon, whether due to disease, warfare, violence, lack of resources, or other factors that are political, social, racial, or economic in nature. And some lives are unjustly taken by the state. Indeed, living a long and healthy life before death is a privilege that many will never experience. The finitude of humanity that is marked by the natural event of death takes on a murderous and terrifying reality that we see all around us as both humanity and the earth groan and wait for liberation (Romans 8). As the Apostle Paul writes, Death is the last enemy that Christians await to be destroyed by God.
Beyond this dialectical reality between the natural and violent quality of death in the world, there are many other questions that become relevant for any discussion on death. Death does not necessarily mark the end of our lives with people; we have peculiar and holy relationships to bodily remains. Various cultures react differently to bodily remains in the wake of death: some burn corpses into ashes, some place people in the ground, and others want to sit with the body for a time of grief prior to any lasting resting place.
In the next issue of The Other Journal, we seek theologically-infused contributions on these themes of death. The following are some—but certainly not all—of the questions authors might wish to consider: how ought the Christian tradition think of death? What ought we say about the death penalty given that we claim Jesus’ death to be salvific? How should we think about death in light of various economic, social, racial, and gendered realities? How ought we think of bodily remains? What does a healthy embrace of dying look like? How should we grapple with questions of suffering and end of life questions?
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 October 1, 2024.
● Complete and submit this form with your draft essay: