Spring 2021 | Cover Photo and Introductory Note

It’s hard to hear the voice of constructive religious faith in the national turmoil right now. But the gifts of spiritual conviction can shore up personal courage, find reconciliation, and repair our common life in ways nothing else can. In this issue of Reflections, Yale Divinity School-related writers discover how spiritual practice turns outrage into action, hopelessness into resolve. One writer credits her faith for making the work of social reform possible despite formidable setbacks. Another brings a burning biblical clarity to his activist vocation despite experiences of incarceration. Others challenge congregations to face their own ailments—racist legacies, political idolatries—and reach new levels of relevance and renewal. To the YDS voices here, the inheritance of religious faith speaks truth in the fraught contemporary moment, just in time.

Cover photo by Engin Akyurt/Unsplash