David Zahl

In an age of health care and wellness industries and near-religious pursuit of fitness and self-optimization, what does “health” mean for the chronically ill? For people with disabilities or mental health challenges or neurodiversity? For the aging and dying? This issue asks what it means to live well despite the limitations and frailties of our bodies, and what, beyond the scope of medicine, is needed for our flourishing. On this theme: Aberdeen Livingstone learns when to battle, and when to accept, chronic illness. Malcolm Guite defends the responsible use of pipe and pint. David Zahl calls out the wellness industry’s false promise of optimization. Abraham Nussbaum learns the limits of psychotherapy from his first patient. Cristiano Dennani photographs survivors of the Bhopal chemical spill in India. Heather M. Surls visits a tuberculosis hospital in Mafraq, Jordan. Brewer Eberly considers direct primary care, an attempt to reset the doctor-patient relationship. Devan Stahl considers what the wounds of the resurrected Christ mean for people with disabled bodies. Sam Tomlin wishes church and school weren’t such hurdles for children with autism. James Mumford finds the twelve steps of AA work when other approaches to addiction fail. Other articles in this issue: Jessica T. Miskelly, monitoring ocean currents on an icebreaker off Antarctica, feels the planet breathe. Kelsey Osgood visits a Jewish-Christian-Muslim interfaith center after October 7. Terence Sweeney profiles a repentant slaveholder, Bartolomé de las Casas. Plus: new poems by A. E. Stallings, short fiction by Narine Abgaryan, book reviews, and more. Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to apply their faith to the challenges we face. Each issue includes in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art.

We could all use a little--or a lot--of relief from the pressures of life. And there is no bigger relief than the grace of God. Think of grace as one-way love. A gift with no strings attached. Favor when you least expect or deserve it. Knowing that you don't have to do anything to earn God's approval. In The Big Relief, popular author David Zahl spotlights grace as the most important, urgent, and radical contribution Christianity has to offer the world. Zahl helps readers understand the beauty and depth of grace, outlining how it provides relief from the guilt, status anxiety, and accelerating demand that characterize so much of modern life. Drawing on the witness of Scripture and a panoply of contemporary examples, he unpacks the theology of grace in fresh and exciting terms, exploring its many fruits--such as freedom, play, surrender, humility, rest, surprise, and joy--in the process. Zahl invites us to embrace Christianity as a refuge rather than as a project, a beacon of hope instead of a vehicle of shame, and a harbor of refreshment in a worn-out world. Ultimately, he welcomes everyone to receive the gift of relief we so desperately need.

"A lighthearted yet high-minded exploration of failure's ability to serve as a gateway to grace. Readers will find this a balm."--Publishers WeeklyMany of us spend our days feeling like we're the only one with problems, while everyone else has their act together. But the sooner we realize that everyone struggles like we do, the sooner we can show grace to ourselves and others. In Low Anthropology, popular author and theologian David Zahl explores how our ideas about human nature influence our expectations in friendship, work, marriage, and politics. We all go through life with an "anthropology"--an idea about what humans are like, our potentials and our limitations. A high anthropology--thinking optimistically about human nature--can breed perfectionism, anxiety, burnout, loneliness, and resentment. Meanwhile, Zahl invites readers into a biblically rooted and surprisingly life-giving low anthropology, which fosters hope, deep connection with others, lasting love, vulnerability, compassion, and happiness. Zahl offers a liberating view of human nature, sin, and grace, showing why the good news of Christianity is both urgent and appealing. By embracing a more accurate view of human beings, readers will discover a true and lasting hope.

"A lighthearted yet high-minded exploration of failure's ability to serve as a gateway to grace. Readers will find this a balm."--Publishers WeeklyMany of us spend our days feeling like we're the only one with problems, while everyone else has their act together. But the sooner we realize that everyone struggles like we do, the sooner we can show grace to ourselves and others. In Low Anthropology, popular author and theologian David Zahl explores how our ideas about human nature influence our expectations in friendship, work, marriage, and politics. We all go through life with an "anthropology"--an idea about what humans are like, our potentials and our limitations. A high anthropology--thinking optimistically about human nature--can breed perfectionism, anxiety, burnout, loneliness, and resentment. Meanwhile, Zahl invites readers into a biblically rooted and surprisingly life-giving low anthropology, which fosters hope, deep connection with others, lasting love, vulnerability, compassion, and happiness. Zahl offers a liberating view of human nature, sin, and grace, showing why the good news of Christianity is both urgent and appealing. By embracing a more accurate view of human beings, readers will discover a true and lasting hope.

We all yearn for grace. But what purports to be good news often feels like judgment, expectation, or demand. Through personal experience, humor, and bucketloads of compassion, Daily Grace reveals the gospel for what it is: endless love and relief rising through the weeds of ordinary life. Composed by over sixty different contributors, these brief scriptural devotions offer comfort and wisdom all while pointing toward Jesus Christ, the cross, and the resurrection. Whether you read this book daily, or once in a blue moon during a personal breakdown (it happens to all of us ), this grace is for you.

We all yearn for grace. But what purports to be good news often feels like judgment, expectation, or demand. Through personal experience, humor, and bucketloads of compassion, Daily Grace reveals the gospel for what it is: endless love and relief rising through the weeds of ordinary life. Composed by over sixty different contributors, these brief scriptural devotions offer comfort and wisdom while pointing toward Jesus Christ, the cross, and the resurrection. Whether you read this book daily, or once in a blue moon during a personal breakdown (it happens to all of us ), this grace is for you.

"David Zahl's popular and enlightening exploration of our unintended replacement religions--career, parenting, technology, food, politics, and romance--is new in paperback, now updated and expanded with a chapter on celebrity. In our striving, we are chasing a sense of enoughness. But it remains ever out of reach, and the effort and anxiety are burning us out. Seculosity takes a thoughtful yet entertaining tour of American ""performancism"" and its cousins, highlighting both their ingenuity and mercilessness, all while challenging the conventional narrative of religious decline. Zahl unmasks the competing pieties around which so much of our lives revolve, and he does so in a way that's at points playful, personal, and incisive. Ultimately he brings us to a fresh appreciation for the grace of God in all its countercultural wonder. New edition includes a bound-in small group discussion guide perfect book clubs, church groups, and more."

At the heart of our current moment lies a universal yearning, writes David Zahl, not to be happy or respected so much as enough--what religions call "righteous." To fill the void left by religion, we look to all sorts of everyday activities--from eating and parenting to dating and voting--for the identity, purpose, and meaning once provided on Sunday morning. In our striving, we are chasing a sense of enoughness. But it remains ever out of reach, and the effort and anxiety are burning us out. Seculosity takes a thoughtful yet entertaining tour of American "performancism" and its cousins, highlighting both their ingenuity and mercilessness, all while challenging the conventional narrative of religious decline. Zahl unmasks the competing pieties around which so much of our lives revolve, and he does so in a way that's at points playful, personal, and incisive. Ultimately he brings us to a fresh appreciation for the grace of God in all its countercultural wonder.