catapult magazine
archives
Theology & Worldview
System Overload
Is there really a man behind the curtain? Or is the notion of controlling “machine” just the paranoid imagining of conspiracy theorists? Reflections on how we live daily with the sense that something is not quite right with what humans have made of the world.
Wake Up
From Plato’s allegory to contemporary films, stories abound that characterize human beings as slaves to illusion. Some might say that we love to be lied to, while others would contend that being fully awake is the only way to be fully human. On the pleasure and pain woven through process of waking up.
Guilt
Those of us who are particularly susceptible to guilt’s maddening power resent those who are impervious—and then promptly feel badly about it. Some use it as a weapon, while some contend it’s ultimately useless. Is guilt always bad? What happens when we experience too much or too little of it?
Do This
Some churches reserve it for special occasions or limit the frequency of its observance in order to maintain its specialness. Other churches define all of their worship services by it, believing the community has not truly come together unless it was around the table. Why communion?
Blood
‘Tis the season for family gatherings. For some of us, these times are comfortable homecomings we anticipate with joy. For others, these times are dreaded obligations filled with misunderstandings and occasional explosions. What contributes to your sense of (dis)harmony in your family?
Trees
Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree embodies a human characteristic that must have been present since the creation of the world: that of assigning human qualities to trees and attributing deep meaning to their shapes, qualities and uses. A collection of reflections on the trees that are characters in our histories and symbols of critical times, places and ideas.
(Un)common Grace
In some circles, syncretism is the bogeyman of the Christian faith. And yet, figureheads like John Calvin proclaim the Holy Spirit as the author of all truth and encourage the embrace of truth wherever it may be found. As Jewish and Christian communities celebrate the thread that runs between the Passover and the resurrection, a consideration of grace, common or otherwise.
Subversive Love
Don’t fall in love in a time of war. Don’t fall in love with someone of the same gender or a different race or another generation. Don’t love your kids too much. We internalize so many messages about love—romantic, platonic or otherwise—and yet it breaks through in astonishing ways, whether we invite it in or not.
Incarnate
Ideas become movements. Knowledge becomes behavior. An Advent celebration of the ways in which the intangible takes on flesh and the tangible takes on infinite meaning after the model of God becoming human.
Let's Get Together 6
Celebrating six years of publishing catapult magazine with our annual issue on the gift of community. The image in the issue banner is a photograph taken by Neil E. Das at the Light Project (St. Louis, MO). The pictured installation is Chorus by Sebastian Hungerer and Rainer Kehres.
explore catapult
Find articles and issues by category:
