Call for Submissions

The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre—
To be redeemed from fire by fire.

T.S. Eliot, ‘Little Gidding’, Four Quartets

‘The Lord breathes on this poor gray ember of Creation, and it turns to radiance. …You don’t have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see.’

Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Spring 2026: A World Ablaze 

Update: Please note that this call for submissions is now closed.

After a year offline, Transpositions is back with renewed excitement. Given the recent celebration of Pentecost Sunday, we find ourselves thinking about those tongues of fire which descended ‘like a dove’ to enliven something new. Yet the image of fire is a recurring and multifaceted one in both theology and the arts. Fire purifies, destroys, births, resurrects. It can represent glory, fear, theophany, a transfigured world, or radiance, and has become synonymous with imagery of a world in crisis.

For our current call for submissions, we seek to publish works that interrogate or illustrate meeting points between created and Creator—spaces where something fresh is bodied forth, where embers are (re-)kindled, vision is transformed, something transcendent is poured out, or sites of destruction are revived. We welcome submissions of essays with topics that include but are not limited to: 

    • Representations of Pentecost and its many themes (e.g. language, understanding, unity amidst diversity) and imagery (wind, breath, fire, tongues) in the arts

    • Themes of creation, decreation, and resurrection in (eco)theology  and the arts

    • Meeting points of presence/absence, transcendence/immanence, life/death or other seemingly dichotomous poles

    • Theological engagement with the motif, image, or symbol of fire in film, literature, and the arts  

In all this, we ask ourselves: what does it mean to inhabit a world ablaze? Does it mean to perceive reality with transfigured sight? To grieve a burning planet, where creation groans? To live in the tension of presence and absence, life and death? Or otherwise? And how does the art we’re drawn to interpret this phrase, which is purposefully multivalent? How might our theology interpret these works? 

Submissions to Transpositions should be approximately 1,200-2,000 words (not inclusive of footnotes) in length. We welcome new material as well as revised unpublished essays from coursework on this theme—dust them off, rework for our audience, and send them our way!

Please review our submission guidelines, AI policy, and terms and conditions prior to submitting.

All submissions, queries, or pitches can be sent to [email protected] along with a brief bio of 2-3 sentences. The call will remain open until June 15, 2026. We look forward to reading your work.