Letter from the Editor

Oftentimes we neglect unseen things at our own detriment. The unseen things, even though they are often the things that are hardest to understand, are the things that change our lives the most. Think about air, or love, or—to get über Christian—the Holy Spirit. 

This issue of Fathom is devoted to Holy Hauntings. In the spirit of this time of the year when things are haunted, we try to find a spark of the divine in the hauntings we experience, how we should be haunted toward holiness as Sarah Pape writes.

In this issue we also talk about abstractions that are often too evident in our lives—abstractions that we don’t want to ever see become a reality. Suffering is something that is miserable to go through —especially watching someone else go through suffering—but at the same time it should propel us to look forward to the day when “everything sad will come untrue.”

We then move into the realm of trying to make the unseen seen by defining evangelicalism, discovering more about Christian regeneration, coming to grips with the mystery of God, and learning what children can teach us about God.

We continue in this idea of making abstract things more visible with a piece by Jed Ostoich on social justice and how it ought to be the natural inclination of the Christian because it inaugurates of the kingdom of God—something that seems invisible, but is brought into form when our love moves from abstraction to reality. 

There is also beauty within things that are seen and yet not noticed. I was talking to my friend the other day, a graphic designer, and she said that good design is often invisible. Brandon Giella takes on his column on language again in his second part of the article “Typography: The Secret Power of Christianity.” We also have an interview from a designer at Google on his theology of design. 

Our podcast is on the ultimate Christianese phrase that is completely invisible and almost completely incoherent—praying for a “hedge of protection.”

We also have to include politics in this issue. We have to, people. We’ve got our profiles on Trump, Clinton, and McMullin. We’ve got a piece dealing with the voters themselves by a politician in Washington—a firing back at the people who elect the idiots in charge of us and a call for us to realize what is really important as a Christian. And, finally, the head honcho herself—Kelsey Hency—is back at it, writing a piece on the three assumptions that were shattered with this election. 

Our artist for this issue is Mandy Busby. We’re excited to have her because her work is stunning, but also because she has created original pieces specifically crafted to this issue. We hope you enjoy them. And if you like them, they can be yours. Go buy prints of them at our shop!

Enjoy reading.