This Month's Cover
Magazine

Sojourners Magazine: August 2023

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How the “welfare state” is designed to subsidize affluence rather than fight poverty.

Features

A picture of a well-dressed heterosexual couple as tiny figurines, standing in front of a large quarter. Smaller figurines of a white man carrying a dollar bill, and a black man carting around a dollar bill, are in the lower left and right corners.

Author and sociologist Matthew Desmond on how we can build out permanent solutions to poverty.

by
Mitchell Atencio
Magazine
Features
 An illustration of a protest for Michael Brown at a concert hall. Banners hang from the balcony on the left side over the audience as a conductor leads the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on stage on the right side.

“Empires don’t like it when you dream about a kingdom with qualities different from their own.”

by
Korla Masters
An illustration of a large old book in Gothic print with four stars superimposed over the pages. Each displays photos with blue tinting of immigrant families climbing over or sitting on border fences, as well as parents carrying their children.

The roots of the “super conspiracy” that influenced Trump’s presidency and stoked the paranoia of his followers.

by
Carmen Celestini

Voices

Voices
Grain of Salt
An illustration of a smiling mouth with green lips against a red backdrop. Vertical prison bars are visible in place of teeth. A red man holds onto two bars with both hands from within..

“As an AI language model, I am not capable of having a religious belief or point of view.” (Well, that's reassuring.)

by Jim Rice
Voices
From The Editors
A vibrant illustration of pinks, blues, and oranges of soccer player Midge Purce leaping in the air, poised to kick the ball in front of her. Colored lines and curves surround her to emphasis her dynamic movement with a quote from her on the lower left.

Christian discipleship is inherently about choosing sides.

by The Editors
Voices
Commentary
An illustration of a soccer ball with an American flag all over its surface. It's on the ground of a completely white background.

These women know how to ball — and show us that true patriotism includes challenging our countries to do better.

by
Jenna Barnett
An illustration of Africa filled in with a rainbow gradient cast against a gray backdrop.

Original colonial annals reflect exceptions to heterosexuality as far back as the 1500s.

by
SimonMary Asese Aihiokhai
Voices
Columns
An edited photo of an overhead view of a sprawling green forest with two barren sections in the shape of footprints.

The steps we must take as we grieve the loss of a stable natural world.

by
Liuan Huska
An illustration of a white house against a crème-colored backdrop. The house's red roof is being blown off and upward by an explosion of fire from within.

As humans face their biggest crisis yet, we badly need the insurance industry to do the right thing.

by
Bill McKibben
Voices
Eyewitness
The author of this piece, Diane Wilson, is wearing a tan vest with a purple long-sleeve shirt, jeans, and brown boots. She's rolling up rope on a boat, which is docked next to another one to the left.

The shrimp boat captain who took on toxic chemical plants in Texas.

by
Diane Wilson

Vision

Vision
Culture
A young white teenage girl named Jem Starling (played by actress Eliza Scanlen) is sitting on the edge of a bed. Here elbows rest on the quilt blanket with her hands folded in prayer as she looks beyond the frame toward an unseen ceiling.

The Starling Girl explores a young woman's power amid repression.

by
Abby Olcese
A black woman in a white dress with long dark brown hair smiles while dancing with her elderly mother on a porch, who's wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. A man in a black t-shirt plays music in the background with a laptop and speaker on a table.

“Our little farm joins other plots of liberation, places of healing for people and the land itself.” 

by
Josina Guess
From left to right, musicians Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, and Julien Baker are dressed in black and cast in the warm glow. They stand in a cascading line next to one another, staring off beyond the left side of the photo with waves in the background.

the record is a transgressive album reminding us to love our friends because they are our perennial home.

by
Hannah Keziah Agustin
Vision
Books
The book ‘Monstrilio’ is at an angle hovering in the air. Various shapes of different colors are spread across a gray-green background on the cover. A small brown creature with round red eyes and pointy ears is visible in the lower center of the cover.

Part family drama, part queer coming-of-age story, Sámano Córdova’s debut novel navigates the complexities of grief. 

by
Elinam Agbo
The book ‘Non-Toxic Masculinity’ features a black illustration of a male figure from the side. He's sitting, partly leaning back and lifting up one leg over the other with a hand resting on his knee. Large yellow leaves fall in the blue background.

Non-Toxic Masculinity counters purity culture – and redefines what makes a “real man.” 

by
Joey Thurmond
A photo from the docufilm ‘Blackberry.’ Actor Jay Baruchel is Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of Blackberry. He has short gray hair, glasses, and wears a white dress shirt. He glares down at a phone with wires plugged into it. People behind him are cheering.

Three culture recommendations from our editors.

by
The Editors
Vision
Poetry

A poem.

by
Paula Bohince
Vision
Living The Word

August reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary, Cycle A

by
Natalie Wigg-Stevenson
Vision
H'rumphs

The whey, the truth, and the life.

by
Beth Cooper-Chrismon