The 2023 Ekstasis Print Collection

Reviving the Imagination with Christianity Today

HOW DO WE TEND THE GARDEN OF TOMORROW? We are caught in the middle of strange visions of reality, both utopian and dystopian in nature, and we wonder how to live in the tension. When nothing feels secure or safe, it’s easy to wonder whether there can be a peaceful pasture in the middle of our spinning cosmos.

This 10th print edition of Ekstasis, a creative project by Christianity Today, looks at life and faith from a poetic angle. By blending rich historical exploration with tangible hopes for the future, these poems and essays wrestle with how to plan for the long haul in our current chaotic moment, taking heed of the weather and conditions of our cultural landscape and welcoming the discipline and boundaries required for creative fruitfulness. We have high hopes for a future flourishing and harvest.

Ekstasis seeks to provide a space for those who are rising as leaders, to elucidate the possibilities of a new generation of writers, thinkers, and creators. With this work by Christianity Today, we hope to cultivate the possibilities of the human imagination within the fertile soil of our relationship to Christ.

Purchase Issue 10 Print Edition

Print Essay Features

The Kind of People We Need at the End of the World
Elizabeth Oldfield on Character & Climate Anxiety

Necessary Secrecy
Sara Kyoungah White on Refugia & Interlinear Spaces

To Share a Home
Annelise Jolley on Local & Global Ecosystems

Print Poetry Features

Be in this World by Jordyn Fouts

Sympathy by D.S. Martin

The Bloom by Erinma E. Man

Print Essay Features

A Secret History of Strawberries
Preston Pouteaux on Goodness Beyond Our Imagination

A Burning Stomach, a Fickle Globe
Nathan Beacom on Hunger & Loving Deeply

Incense on the Mountain
Allison Huang on the Aroma of Our Life’s Work

Print Poetry Features

Años by Sito Sasieta

Overalls by Melvin Bellwether

Sea Sleep by Fr. Ryan Sliwa

Print Essay Features

Bohemia in the Suburbs
Katy Carl on the Task of Today’s Christian Artist

Building Permanence
Clare Coffey on the Aesthetics of Renovations

Snake Season
Sarah Finley Purdy on Shedding Fear & Old Ways

On the Elegance of Slowness
Lynnette Woo on Excellence & Laborious Patience

Print Poetry Features

Struggle and Doxology by Maura H. Harrison

Pomegranates and Children by Lindsey Priest

Shell Station, Tennessee by Kelly Scott Franklin

Virga by Kate Millar

Print Essay Features

The Island with No Words
Paul J. Pastor on Remembering Silence & Creative Life

Mauve Undertones in the Great Grey North
Maya Clubine on Atmospheric Elements & Spiritual Seasons

Carrying the Weight of Tomorrow
Rick Jebb on Countercultures & Coping Methods

In the Middle of Classrooms and Warzones
Teresa Sfeir on the Weapon of Education

Print Poetry Features

How Can You Laugh at a Time Like This by Tommy Welty

Hunger and Cloud by Marly Youmans

To a Child by Sally Thomas

On the Bridge We’ll Meet by Alexis Ragan

Print Essay Features

Standing Bare Before Infinity
Josh Nadeau on Cosmology & Sublimity

Are We Safe as the Fire Rages?
Ashley Lande on Spiritual Safety & Martyrdom

Multidimensional Feminism
Ilana Reimer on a Path Toward New Conversations