HOW TO SUBMIT A PIECE
Earth & Altar welcomes proposals for articles on the topics of theology, church history, liturgy and worship, preaching, the bible, the practice of ministry, theological engagement with popular culture, church administration, christian education, hymnody, poetry, creative writing, visual arts, and more. Abstracts of 150-200 words for proposed articles may be sent to submissions@earthandaltarmag.com. And don’t worry—even if you’re not sure how to put together an abstract, please still reach out to us and we’ll work with you to get your idea into abstract form. In the case of works of art (original pieces of poetry, hymnody, other music, creative writing, and the visual arts), you may send in a proposal for what you will create, the original piece itself, or a picture of the piece for consideration. Please remember that Earth & Altar aims to be accessible to the thoughtful non-specialist, so please keep that in mind both when proposing material and composing your submission. Content Editors will, at their discretion, engage with the submitters within a week of submission to prepare for publication. The Content Editor in question will give guidelines for manuscript composition and set a deadline for delivery of the manuscript to them which will be no less than three (3) weeks before the proposed date of publishing. Unless otherwise specified by the Content Editor, final manuscripts should be 1250-1500 words. The Editor-in-Chief may, in concert with the Editorial Board, invite submissions based around specific themes at certain periods.
FAITHFUL RESISTANCE:
UNDERSTANDING AND OPPOSING CHRISTIAN FASCISM
The return of Donald Trump to the American presidency, propelled by almost the same percentage of white evangelicals as in 2016, shows more than ever the vital importance of reckoning with a broad, dangerous, and ascendant tendency toward what can be called Christian Fascism or Christofascism. This term, originating with liberation theologian Dorothee Sölle, refers to the hijacking of Christian language, imagery, and practice for authoritarian, nationalistic, militaristic, patriarchal, homo- and transphobic, and, often, racist political orders. Christian Fascism has gained prominence and political and ecclesiastical power under various guises, including Christian Nationalism (among Protestants) and varieties of Integralism (among Roman Catholics).
Christian Fascism represents a perverse anti-Gospel that must be condemned and combated in the strongest terms by those committed to orthodox credal Christianity, and in particular inclusive orthodoxy, committed as it is to elevating and strengthening the voices of Christians traditionally at the margins. Earth & Altar is therefore calling for submissions that equip people to identify and combat the various forms of Christian Fascism that seek to dominate the world around us. Such submissions may include, but are not limited to:
Genealogies of current manifestations of Christian Fascism such as slaveholder religion, Kinism, Dominionism, and the Christian Identity Movement
Explanations of the differences and similarities of different forms of Christian Fascism, such as Christian Nationalism and Integralism
Historic examples of resistance to Christian Fascism such as the Confessing Church in Germany, the Black Church in the United States, or the Catholic Church in Pinochet’s Chile
Theological and biblical critiques of the distorted and heretical foundations of Christian Fascism, such as its similarity to pagan and neopagan tribalism, the accusation of the “sin of empathy,” J.D. Vance’s recent misrepresentation of the Ordo Amoris, the QAnon conspiracy, or attempts to redefine Christian conceptions of the neighbor in narrowly familial or national terms
Stories of on-the-ground resistance to Christian Fascism in various Christian communities and traditions, especially those most susceptible to it
Strategies for successfully engaging with friends and family entertaining or taken in by Christian Fascism
Sermon examples for faithfully combatting Christian Fascism from the pulpit
Art and poetry to energize and sustain resistance to Christian Fascism
If you are interested in writing on these or any other topics related to understanding and opposing Christian Fascism from an inclusive orthodox perspective, please submit a proposal of approximately 250 words outlining your topic and argument approach to submissions@earthandaltarmag.com with the subject line Faithful Resistance. Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis with the goal of publishing ASAP.
RESISTENCIA FIEL:
COMPRENDER Y DESAFÍAR EL FASCIMO CRISTIANO
El regreso de Donald Trump a la presidencia estadounidense, propulsado por casi el mismo porcentaje de evangélicos blancos que en 2016, demuestra más que nunca la importancia de considerar la tendencia ascendente, extensa y peligrosa hacia lo que se puede denominar fascismo cristiano o cristofascismo. Este término se origina con la teóloga de liberación Dorothee Sölle, se refiere uso pirata del lenguaje cristiano, metáfora y prácticas para órdenes políticas autoritarias, nacionalistas, patriarcales, homo y transfóbicos y, a menudo racistas. El fascismo cristiano ha alcanzado la prominencia y poder político y eclesiastico bajo varios aspectos, incluyendo el nacionalismo cristiano (entre protestantes) y variedades del Integralismo (entre Católicos Romanos).
El fascismo cristiano representa un anti-evangelio perverso que debe ser condenado y combatido en los términos más enérgicos por aquellos comprometidos con el cristianismo ortodoxo y, en particular aquellos comprometidos con la ortodoxia inclusiva por su compromiso a elevar y fortalecer las voces de los cristianos tradicionalmente marginados. Por lo tanto, Tierra & Altar solicita contribuciones que capaciten a las personas para identificar y combatir las diversas formas del fascismo cristiano que buscan dominar el mundo que nos rodea. Dichas contribuciones pueden incluir, entre otras:
Genealogías de manifestaciones actuales del fascismo cristiano, como la religión esclavista, el kinismo, el dominionismo y el movimiento de identidad cristiana
Explicaciones de las diferencias y similitudes entre las distintas formas de fascismo cristiano, como el nacionalismo cristiano y el integralismo.
Ejemplos históricos de resistencia al fascismo cristiano como la Iglesia Confesante en Alemania, la Iglesia Negra en Estados Unidos o la Iglesia Católica en el Chile de Pinochet
Críticas teológicas y bíblicas de los fundamentos distorsionados y heréticos del fascismo cristiano, como su similitud con el tribalismo pagano y neopagano, la acusación del “pecado de empatía”, la reciente tergiversación del Ordo Amoris por parte de J.D. Vance, la conspiración de QAnon o los intentos de redefinir las concepciones cristianas del prójimo en términos estrictamente familiares o nacionales
Historias de resistencia sobre el terreno al fascismo cristiano en varias comunidades y tradiciones cristianas, especialmente aquellas más susceptibles a él
Estrategias para relacionarse con éxito con amigos y familiares que se entretienen o se dejan llevar por el fascismo cristiano
Ejemplos de sermones para combatir fielmente el fascismo cristiano desde el púlpito
Arte y poesía para dinamizar y sostener la resistencia al fascismo cristiano
Si está interesado en escribir sobre estos u otros temas relacionados con la comprensión y oposición al fascismo cristiano desde una perspectiva ortodoxa inclusiva, envíe una propuesta de aproximadamente 250 palabras que describa su tema y enfoque argumentativo a submissions@earthandaltarmag.com con el asunto Resistencia fiel. Se aceptarán envíos de manera continua con el objetivo de publicarlos lo antes posible.
OUR CAPITALIZATION PRACTICES
The question of properly and equitably identifying racial and ethnic identities in print has become an incredibly important conversation for publishers. A number of different possibilities have been put forward for how to engage in proper capitalization practices. The position taken, for instance, by the Associated Press is to capitalize Black and Indigenous but not to capitalize white. The argument here is that this practice draws attention to identifies traditionally marginalized in public discourse and also refers to people with broadly conceived shared identities while emphasizing that “White” carries baggage associated too often with white supremecist ideologies. The APA has suggested capitalizing all racial and ethnic identifiers, including White, Black, Native American, and Latino/a. While recognizing that capitalizing White has been associated with supremacist ideologies, this approach attempts to recognize that whiteness is indeed a racial identifier and put it on par with other such racial identifiers in order to require a kind of “coming to terms' with” whiteness and its distinctiveness, rather than perpetuating the idea that whiteness is a default or neutral position. Finally, Chicago style, which we follow at Earth & Altar, allows for terms to be either capitalized or left lowercase, so long as it is done consistently and universally (i.e, all such racial and ethnic identifiers are either capitalized or left lowercase). Those who favor all uppercase may do so for the same reasons as the APA suggests this practice, while those who favor all lowercase may want to indicate that while race and ethnicity are real and operative in the world, we should be careful about practices that lead to either essentialism or reductionism by drawing undue attention to these facets of human experience. In order to try to honor the ongoing conversation around this important issue, to recognize that it is not settled, and to try to remain consistent with our own style commitments, we will follow the Chicago practice broadly conceived. In other words, we will leave it up to our individual editors (and authors when there is a strong preference) whether to capitalize or leave lowercase racial and ethnic identifiers so long as this practice is consistently and universally employed within a piece. Again, though, we want to recognize that this is not a settled issue and there are arguments to be made for other practices. For that reason, we have provided links to various style guides as well as arguments and advocacy for different practices around capitalization.
https://www.cjr.org/analysis/capital-b-black-styleguide.php
https://blog.ap.org/announcements/the-decision-to-capitalize-black
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/capitalizeblack/
https://cssp.org/2020/03/recognizing-race-in-language-why-we-capitalize-black-and-white/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/time-to-capitalize-blackand-white/613159/
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/racial-ethnic-minorities