March Ekstasis Curated
Our art, culture & faith favorites this month
Well, the news is out—Ekstasis Magazine is becoming Christianity Today’s Inkwell. We’re thrilled about what this will mean over the next few years. As this new era takes shape and blossoms, we stay committed to the loving labor of rounding up top-notch pieces just for you. Here’s some of our favorites in culture, art, and faith this March, all bookended by a moment of ekstasis.
Enjoy this overflow of links on the struggles of modern hospitality, the desert as a spiritual landscape, and the art of reading for God and for companionship. — Carolyn Morris-Collier
The Bookshop: Hot off the shelf
🪓 An Axe for the Frozen Sea at
with Ben Palpant (one of our partners for the Nashville Inkwell happening this Friday!), has just released this much needed collection of conversations, diving deep with seventeen of the most masterful Christian poets of our time."Franz Kafka famously said that "a book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us." And the words and thoughts contained here aim to wake up much that has become silent in each of us.”
🦁 Room for Good Things to Run Wild with
Our very own
(aka Sword and Pencil) has released a bold book unlike much else currently on the market—brimming with vivid art, literature, theology, and unfiltered tales. Join Josh’s quest to push beyond “widespread Christian malaise” and into the richer, more embodied, and wild faith of an everyday saint."I didn’t know what it meant for good things to run wild, but it reminded me of something. Of being a kid. Of running in a field with my friends, and of a laughter that held the universe together. And maybe I could have that again."
🙏 Reading as a Spiritual Practice with
The Inkwell team recently had some incredible pub time in Oxford with Jessica while she was Staying at CS Lewis's home. Jessica is a scholar, professor, and fierce advocate for the reading life, arguing Christians have always been “people of the book”. Check out this Trinity Forum interview.
“In her book, Reading for the Love of God, award-winning author and Trinity Forum Senior Fellow Jessica Hooten Wilson explores how Christian thinkers—including Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Frederick Douglass, and Dorothy Sayers—approached the act of reading.”
The Cafe: Where faith mingles with contemporary culture
✨ How to Host in 2025 at Trimming the Wicks with
Check out this interview between Ben and
on spicy & fun tips to revive hosting amidst the “friendship recession”. Her recommendation? Throw fabulous niche events that aren’t for everyone but are a home run for some, thrusting people into fascinating conversations around shared interests.“She finds ‘What do you do?’ a boring, dead-end question. She’d rather ask, ‘What’s something interesting that you’ve read recently,’ or better yet, at something focused like her Sayers event: ‘Tell me where you first came across Dorothy Sayers.’ These sorts of questions are meant to forge meaningful, unanticipated connections between guests.”
👹 The Witch Trials of John Mark Comer at
You may have noticed something strange happening on Substack… Why are there so many pieces critiquing pastor and author John Mark Comer?
decided to defend “Gen Z’s Billy Graham” and systematically address the main concerns floating around the Christian web. Griffin makes a charitable, fascinating, and funny argument in this post—don’t miss the buzz.“When all you do is deconstruct, dissect, look for problems, it’s hard to do anything but. Fighting for sincerity, encouragement, or simply the ability to disagree with someone without needing to demolish them is one of the most countercultural pursuits we can move toward. But it’s both worth it and necessary.”
🧀 When Friendship Sits at the Table with
atFood means togetherness with people you love. But beauty standards and diet culture can sabotage these precious moments over meals. In mouth-watering prose, Author Audrey chronicles her own path from being a hungry and dieting teenage girl into the collective embrace of the table.
“The time wasted avoiding tables was really me not wanting to be seen. Now, gathering around a table might be my favorite thing, because you can’t hide when you’re splitting the burrata or passing ruby bottles from one hand to another. Eating together satisfies our most basic human needs, to be nourished and to be seen.”
The Pub: Your watering hole for big ideas
Are you looking for an endearingly heated Substack debate on the use of meter in poetry & contemporary free verse?
and have been hashing it out and getting technical. What do you make of their reasoning and of Olivia’s principles for writing poetry below?“Study meter (and free verse). Get the sound of old poetry in your ears, but understand the motives behind others’ innovations. Pay attention to the world. Write out of something greater than yourself. Imitate those who’ve gone before. Feel deeply; write sober-mindedly. Employ the senses. Take your craft seriously and master its tools.” —
🧵 A Mirror & a Thread at
withWhen fashionista and small town girl
moved to the big city, she found company in a novel by Sylvia Plath, which seemed to be putting words her NYC experience. What books or characters are currently walking with you step by step, helping you to interpret the world around you?“I drank in the story, set against the glamorous background of New York and littered with lush descriptions of clothing and beauty, all the while feeling a hollowness in my gut, one I didn’t try to understand. I merely enjoyed the comfort of the protagonist in her despair, knowing I wasn’t alone.”
🏜️ WILD CHRIST: The Strangest God of All at JAWBONE with
Join master storyteller and mythologist,
, in this immersive podcast which feels like a fireside telling of the strange tales of Christ. His poetic and rugged voice provide fresh angles to receive the gospel narratives.“I think Christ is pretty wild. Wild not feral. Wild not savage…Wildness is the dance partner of discipline… So what would be wild about Jesus, eh? Where to begin?”
The Sanctuary: Church chat with a side of wonder
🐫 Make Asceticism Great Again? at The Dispatch with
Learn more about the Desert Fathers & Mothers through this vivid Lenten piece by Nadya. While she looks deeper at their asceticism, she ends up reminding us of the beauty of a life rooted in church community and denying ourselves in a million tiny moments for the sake of love.
“Forty days without coffee—or time spent sleeping outside in the desert and eating crickets—will only have spiritual benefits if accompanied by real heart transformation. Asceticism is not a guaranteed magic cure for spiritual ills.”
💔 When a Church Breaks at Christianity Today with
This powerful essay lays bare the emotions and theological reflections of someone whose church just dissolved. How can one process the loss of so much invested time and so many close relationships? Yi Ning finds solace in the narrative arc of Christ’s life—from being broken to bringing others near.
“Returning to the church is nonnegotiable. Christ’s story is compelling enough to bring me to my knees, but without a through line connecting his biography to ours, it will always seem like an abstraction of goodness, existing in another dimension, incapable of making landfall in our own.”
How do we navigate the competing, polarizing, and frenetic voices on the left and right in our culture at large and in American Christianity today? We are all exhausted. Drew suggests we have to turn down the noise, embrace nuance, and listen for the “strong and quiet” voice of God.
“Conservative or liberal or something altogether different, they have reached a fever pitch in my brain, and they have gained something bigger than my allegiance—they have gained my attention.”
A few more quick links for you:
🌏 Letter No. 4: Reading the world closely at
with🔀 Cross Culture Podcast with Belle Tindall and Lauren Windle
💖 Words and the Heart: The Two Mirrors of Prayer at Pilgrims in the Machine with
🌆 Seen and Unseen at Comment with Anne Snyder
🩸 Betrayal: Walking Through the Stations of the Cross
😢 I Really Miss You, Man: A Poem at
with Peter Battle Biles🍼 Motherhood vs the Machine at Theos with Chine McDonald
🔥 Burnt Norton with Paul Pastor: Four Quartets, Lent 2025 at
and at Old Books with Grace
Do you have any resources you recommend—like the podcasts or Substacks you’re currently hooked on? Please share. We’re eager to hear!
A Moment of Ekstasis 💫
Pause, breath, and take this in. Ekstasis was born out of a desire to help us be brought outside of ourselves in an experience of awe, wonder, and worship.
“What is all this juice and all this joy? A strain of the
earth’s sweet being in the beginning” — Gerard Manley Hopkins
 | A guest post by
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I'm glad you highlighted the exchange between Robert and Olivia! It's been an enjoyable conversation to follow.
Thanks for highlighting Sarah Finley Purdy's work!