

Since 1900, the Christian Century has published reporting, commentary, poetry, and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society.
© 2023 The Christian Century.
A poet’s truth at the graveside
At the interment, the holy words I needed to hear weren’t from the Bible.
Is The Hero of this Book a novel or a memoir?
In either case, Elizabeth McCracken’s account of losing a mother is wrenching and tender.
Prayer as mourning, mourning as prayer
In Jon Fosse’s Septology, a tragic vision of faith shines with a luminous darkness.
by Mac Loftin
Missionary of grief
Musician Nick Cave talks to journalist Seán O’Hagan about his son’s death and the pull of love.
We need ritual for our collective grief
Going through the motions together can move us toward healing.
The land mourns
Hosea testifies to an earth that laments with its people.
by Andi Lloyd
Ministry with the grieving
Twenty of us gathered to talk about having a job that requires us to weep with those who weep.
May 8, Easter 4C (Acts 9:36-43; John 10:22-30)
Tabitha’s community embraces her in her season after loss.
by Kiki Barnes
After my son died, I went looking for God in the desert
If anything had an honest answer, it would be the canyon’s cool indifference and heartbreaking beauty.
We need a word for mothers whose children have died
Karla F. C. Holloway offers one from Sanskrit: vilomah.
Anya Silver’s heart-wrenchingly beautiful last poems
Saint Agnostica is a chronicle of grief, love, and mystery.
My child died shortly after my mother died
In between, I was ordained a priest.
by Liz Tichenor
Elegies for Jacki
Poet Peter Cooley logs the year following his wife’s death with courage and brutal honesty.
Liz Tichenor’s life in the wake of her infant’s death
We are called to accompany the bodies we love from birth to death and beyond.
The words I turn to in times of grief and distress
“If it can’t be happy, make it beautiful.”
by Samuel Wells
Looking to Advent as we grieve our COVID-19 dead
Lament and longing can be companions.
Grieving my daughter’s suicide in a time of wider grief
My years of experience as an undertaker didn’t make it easier.
by Thomas Lynch
My dad died from COVID-19. My grief is a lonely one.
I’m the only person he loved the way he loved me.
How do we grieve the hundreds of thousands of people the COVID-19 pandemic has killed?
We posed this question to five writers.
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