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CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN POETS

Christian poetry today is experiencing remarkable vitality, with poets exploring ancient faith through contemporary forms and urgent social concerns. From liturgical meditations to prophetic calls for justice, today's Christian poets are expanding the boundaries of religious verse while honoring deep spiritual traditions.

Navigating the Landscape

As both practitioner and critic, I've contributed to contemporary Christian poetry discourse. My essays "Six Black Protest Poets for Troubled Times," and “Five Christian Poets you Should Read” for The Gospel Coalition highlighted crucial voices addressing social justice through faith-informed verse. My ongoing poetry coverage for The RabbitRoom connects readers with both established and emerging Christian poets.

My most-read blog post, recommending more essential contemporary Christian poets, demonstrates the hunger readers have for guidance in this rich literary landscape. Through book endorsements, critical reviews, and scholarly engagement, I work to connect readers with poets whose work deserves wider recognition.

Contributions

  • Critical Writing

    LITERARY CRITICISM & ESSAYS

    In-depth analysis of contemporary Christian poetry for The Gospel Coalition, The Rabbit Room, and other publications. Exploring how faith informs poetic craft and cultural engagement.

    → Read my essays

  • Book Endorsements

    POETRY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

    Professional endorsements and reviews of emerging and established Christian poets, helping readers discover exceptional work in the field.

    → See my endorsements

  • Editorial Perspective

    SCHOLARLY ENGAGEMENT

    Bringing academic expertise in literary tradition to contemporary Christian poetry, bridging historical and modern expressions of faith in verse.

    → View my scholarship

  • Teaching & Mentorship

    DEVELOPING NEW VOICES

    Through the Whitworth Writers' Workshop MFA program, nurturing the next generation of Christian poets and writers.

    → Learn about our program

See Also:

Featured Endorsements

  • A book cover titled 'Between the Joints & the Marrow' by Garrett Soucy, featuring a halved pear with seeds visible on a gray surface against a black background.

    "There isn’t anything affected in either Garrett Soucy’s singing voice or his literary style. Both are spare as a cabin in the Maine woods, a cast iron stove in the corner for heat, but also for hardness. Sometimes when walking, one comes upon the remnants of such a place, a chimney that has out-lasted its house. That’s these poems: compelling, comfortable, and classic as brick."

  • Book cover of 'Forbearance' by Cameron Brooks, featuring an illustration of a man sitting on the ground next to a horse with a saddle, on a dusty landscape with some cattle in the background.

    “In lines taut as a drum or the stakes of a tent of meeting, we meet in Brooks’s Forbearance a restraint that belies an urgent strength, poems training us for some contest or some kingdom here and sure to come—as sinewy and hale a debut as I’ve seen."

  • Cover of a poetry book titled 'City Nave' by Betsy K. Brown, featuring a stylized city skyline silhouette in dark blue and light blue tones.

    "The poems in City Nave twist and slither off the page, never still, ablaze one breath and ashen the next, here admonishing, there searching, always, like a Phoenix, fiery, always re-birthing."

  • Book cover titled 'Bower Lodge' by Paul J. Pastor, featuring a detailed illustration of a butterfly with eyes on its wings, and the quote 'Radiant and devastating' by Sally Thomas at the top.

    "For all its intimations of quietude, there's a wildness in Pastor's poems- think Berryman's dreaming songs or Whitman's barbarian yawp-a rusticity that is as defiant as it is pastoral. This book is a plumage, not of butterfly or bird, but of moth wing, which is to say: a blessing."

Cover of a book titled 'Somewhere to Follow' by Paul J. Willis. It features a wooden pathway stretching through grassy fields towards the horizon with a few small figures in the distance. The subtitle reads 'Poems'.
Book cover titled 'Butterfly Nebula' by Laura Reece Hogan, featuring an image of a butterfly with wings covered in gold particles floating in a dark, cosmic-like background.
Book cover titled 'Every Risen Thing' by Christian Wiman, with the subtitle 'Poems', featuring a textured gray background and black gothic-style text.
Book cover of 'Anaphora' by Scott Cairns, featuring an illustrated religious scene with multiple saints or prophets having halos and beards, holding religious objects.
Book cover titled "99 Poems" by Dana Gioia, labeled as "New & Selected" with a blue background and stylized design.
Book cover titled 'Angels Everywhere: Poems' by Luci Shaw, featuring an illustration of a flying heron against a soft, cloudy sky background.
Book cover with dark background, titled 'Phases' by Mischa Willett, featuring a gray circle outline and small white specks.
Book cover titled 'Which Seeds Will Grow? Poems' by Andrew J. Calis, with a dark blue background featuring light-colored drawing of sprouting seeds and plant roots.
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Books

Explore my own contributions to contemporary Christian poetry through my collections Phases and The Elegy Beta, which engage with this rich tradition while forging new paths in faith-informed verse."
View my poetry collections

Get Serious

Interested in developing your own voice in Christian poetry? The Whitworth Writers' Workshop MFA program provides mentorship in the intersection of faith and literary craft.
Learn about our MFA program

Follow Along

Get my monthly missive, featuring invitations to readings, recommendations for new books and music coming out, personal updates, and info about visiting writers to the program.

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