Thank you for your interest in submitting content for Christ & Cascadia.

We are an online journal associated with The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology dedicated to exploring Christian faith and practice in the Cascadia bioregion. You can read more about us and our mission here.

Please read through the following guidelines. The first section applies to all submissions; below is information specific to text essays, photo-and video-essays, and art submissions.

All Submissions

Proposals

It is best to first propose your idea for an essay. Send a 4-5 sentence (about 100 words) summary of your idea to christcascadia@theseattleschool.edu. We will get back to you within two weeks, barring holidays, vacations, and unforeseen circumstances.

Responses

Have something to say about a piece of Christ & Cascadia content? Have something to add? Something to challenge? We’re interested in publishing respectful and well-formulated responses.

Originality

We ask that essays be written expressly for Christ & Cascadia, and not recycled material that has been published elsewhere. The exception to this is books that are less than one year old; we allow authors to adapt and publish excerpts to promote relevant new works.

If you publish with us and later want to adapt that content for a different publication or purpose, we ask that you:
1. Change the title, and
2. Wait one year after the publication date on Christ & Cascadia before publishing elsewhere.

Audience

Please see our About page and browse the existing collection of published essays. Here are a few additional key details to keep in mind as you write:

• Audience: Christ & Cascadia readers tend to be Christ-followers interested in finding more relevant, authentic, and fulfilling ways to live out their faith, as individuals and as communities. They tend to be restless and even a bit dissatisfied with conventional ministry approaches, static church traditions, and stale modes of spiritual practice. Correspondingly, they are deeply curious to learn from the experiences of others, and disruptively creative when it comes to innovating new modes of “living Christ” in their contexts.
• Voice: Christ & Cascadia is for everyday people who want to practice faith-life differently; they connect best to writers whose voices are engaging, authentic, and relatable. In other words: keep it real. Because the journal serves such a broad range of people—from farmers to financial planners, parents to pastors, and students to social workers—essays should not be overly academic in tone, or use language that sounds overly religious. And while our essays do contain citations of other published sources, more compelling cases are also supported by stories, illustrations, and personal accounts.
• Place: Christ & Cascadia serves the Cascadia bioregion (SE Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and parts of Western Montana and Northern California). All essays should be written with the unique culture, characteristics, and concerns of the region in mind. At the same time, we place a high value on presence and place; in most cases, essays should emphasize “locatedness” in a specific place and community within Cascadia, and emphasize the unique local context factors that have bearing on a given essay topic.

General Guidelines

Please be sure to . . .

• Employ a writing style that is authentic and accessible, not overly academic, yet rigorous and thoughtful
• Have a good proofreader/editor (or three) do a thorough combing through of your work before you submit it
• Be present and engaged as a real person presenting a perspective, making a case, or telling a story
• Use stories when possible to make your points, showing as well as telling
• Develop your ideas with some connection to the stated Christ & Cascadia values and priorities
• Write to, for, and about Cascadians, and demonstrate the locatedness of any topic in the particularities of people and place

Author bio and info

We ask that, with all submissions, you include a short (2-4 sentences; no more than 75 words) biographical statement and a high-resolution personal photo (head and shoulders). Include your full name, degrees or other credentials, current town/city, and state of residence.

We are happy to include links to relevant sites you are associated with, such as your blog or podcast, organizations you represent, or sites through which you offer products or services. We want your publication in Christ & Cascadia to contribute to your success and to expand the reach of your voice. Likewise, we would ask that you promote your essay with Christ & Cascadia in your personal and professional networks.

Formats

Submissions may include essays, stories, poetry, music, visual art — we are open to any medium that we can add to the website.

Writing / Text Essays

Even if we’ve agreed on a topic with you in advance, there is no guarantee that we will publish your work. It is important that your essay be thoroughly edited before you submit it. When you take care of the grammar and mechanics, then we get to focus on editing content—and on making sure you’re presenting your good ideas in clear and compelling ways!

Content that is engaged well is easy to understand, digestible, and readable. Ways to accomplish this include:

• Use headings where applicable.
• Keep paragraphs short.
• Write for a high school to early college reading level.
• Read your article out loud to yourself or a friend before submitting

Format, word count, citations:

• Please submit your essays in Word or Google Doc format.
• Essays should contain 1,000 to 2,000 words. Book reviews, 500-750 words.
• Citations are preferred in Modern Language Association (MLA) style, though we can modify from other styles.

Images/Photo Essays

• Images increase interest and impact of a post, so include images if you can. Please provide evidence (date and location of photo) that you own or have permission for use (link to free and fair use statement from image owner).
• Any photos or images of artwork should be hi-resolution .jpg images with a minimum width of 1980 pixels.
• If you are submitting any recorded video or audio material, please contact us at christcascadia@theseattleschool.edu for technical options.