The published articles, interviews, reviews, podcasts, and presentations on AnselmSociety.org are glimpses into what the larger world looks through the lens of that redeemed imagination. Our content focuses on the particular, zooming in on a specific story, moment, place, or even object within one of three frameworks we hinted at above.

• UNDERSTAND Category: Content that introduces and illuminates concepts and connections between beauty and truth.

• ENJOY Category: Content that lets people delight in elements of beauty/art, such as a song, a character from a story, a painting, a craft, a narrative, etc.

• EMBODY Category: Content that shows what the Christian imagination looks like when creatively lived out..

Here's an example of what we mean in answer to the question, “I want to write about feasting! But how?”

• UNDERSTAND: Why feasting matters (spiritually).

• ENJOY: Why feasting is wonderful.

• EMBODY: How I threw a feast, and here are three things you can do to have one too!

What We’re NOT Doing

Grandiose philosophical writing: Anything that tries to give sweeping explanations of all reality or huge concepts.

Stream-of-conscious journaling: Anything that is more akin to self-indulgent, meandering personal devotional-style ruminations about what you’ve been pondering lately that don’t “finish”

Anything normally associated with “worldview” content: I.e., highly propositional simplifications of great truths that are thick on bullet points and thin on details, or “culture war”-style content that antagonizes or engages antagonists directly.

Anything that involves portraying the Church as the bad guy: We know there are better and worse churches, there are people who have had truly bad experiences in the latter, and there are definitely pastors who don’t get the whole Christian imagination thing. But it’s still the Church and we want to partner with the good ones. We don’t overgeneralize and we want to keep critiques to a minimum; we want to mostly “lead with delight” and let the truth and beauty of what we say cast contrasting alternatives in their own light by inference.

To enact this vision, we want to build a team of writers, editors, digital content managers ( + eventually other types of content creators/adapters as well) to bring these images of goodness, truth, and beauty into people’s feeds.

We take the development of our staff seriously. If you join the team, we want to actively dialogue with you about your passions, projects, dreams, etc. and do what we can to support them–both through how we approach your involvement, and just by putting you in the way of the right people, mentors, opportunities, etc.

That being said, we’re assuming nearly everybody we’re going to talk to about this is busy. We’re not looking to add to that. We’re looking to mostly leverage what you do already–what you think about, what you love to read or talk about, what you write about anyway (or have been dying to write about), existing connections you already have, and so on. We want to channel your skills, wisdom, new or repurposed content, etc. to be a small part of a larger tapestry we curate together into a magnificent resource for inspiration and edification.

NEXT STEPS

1. Consider what role you might be interested in, and think and pray about ideas related to it.

2. Communicate them to Sarah Howell (sarah@anselmsociety.org).

3. Set up a video call in the coming weeks in which we’ll meet each other, get excited by the ideas in play, and get going! https://calendly.com/sfghowell

4. Required Reading: Get a hold of this book - Jane Scharl, Brian Brown (eds). “Why We Create: Reflections on the Creator, the Creation, and Creating.” It’s short primer and we wrote it to succinctly popularize and articulate Anselm’s theology in a very detailed way with the help of some wonderful writers you’re probably familiar with. (If you’re local to Colorado Springs, ping Sarah@anselmsociety.org and we’ll get you a copy from our stash.)

Writer Job Description: 1-3 pieces per quarter, can be repurposed ones that already exist if appropriate (1 keeps you “alive” on the site, but you’re welcome to write more)

Examples, besides new pieces written specifically for us: maybe you just read a great book or studied an incredible subject; write a few short paragraphs sharing a beautiful anecdote or takeaway and pass them along. Or you just baked something amazing and shared it with someone–tell us about it. Or you’d like to feature a piece of writing you did on your own blog. Or you went to all the trouble to prepare a lecture–lightly adapt a few paragraphs articulating one point from it (and we can link to the full lecture if you like!).

I’D LIKE TO GET STARTED WRITING, WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?

The planning, approving, writing, submitting, editing, and publishing processes for each piece may look a little different. Nevertheless, here is the general schematic for what to expect with creating a piece start to finish:

Ideas - What do I want to write about?

• Consider which of the three topics interests you (or where your ideas fall within the topics):
  (1) Things of Heaven on Earth
  (2) Eternity and Time
  (3) Eucharistic Life

• Then, consider the kind of category you’d like to write within:
  (1) Understand
  (2) Enjoy
  (3) Embody
  - For more information, see “Communicating the Vision” above.
  We can help you brainstorm if you wish to connect with one of us during this stage of the process.

Idea approval (Optional, but Recommended) - Does this idea work?

• Send your proposed idea with a quick sketch of how it fits as either an Understand, Enjoy, or Embody piece. Click here to submit the piece. We will review the proposal, giving any feedback necessary to help guide the direction for a more seamless editing phase.

Writing Process - When will I find time to write?

• At Anselm, we understand this is not your day job. Set a timeline that is reasonable for you to write your piece.

*Submission - Where do I submit the piece and what does that all entail?

• Click here to submit the piece. *It’s possible you have a pre-existing piece that you’d like to submit!

• All submitted pieces must adhere to Anselm’s Statement of Faith and Ecumenical Policies. These policies are in the form and are stated here:

  Statement of Faith: As the Anselm Society, we firmly believe that goodness, truth, and beauty are in fact one thing, and that we have the responsibility to pursue God's vision for all of them together. To that end, we unequivocally adhere to the historic Christian faith handed down through Scripture and tradition, including but not limited to the unifying creeds used by all orthodox denominations throughout the history of the church (the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed of 381 A.D.). We acknowledge our responsibilities in God’s narrative for this world—Creation, Fall, Redemption, and now, Restoration—including to uphold mankind’s identity as the Imago Dei and model the goodness, truth, and beauty of God’s design to a watching world.

  Statement of Ecumenical Policy: As we are not a church, but an ecumenical organization whose members are Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, we do not generally take institutional positions on issues on which the historic denominations have disagreed in good faith. Where these differences have affected their approach to the imagination or the arts, we may of course draw attention to them for educational and relational purposes. We encourage a culture of lively and formative discussion and we understand that leaders and members will in good faith express their personal views.

  But we firmly believe that goodness, truth, and beauty are in fact one thing, and that we cannot fully serve God in the area of beauty while denying His truth. Where the church has consistently held a position on an issue, we will not take a contrary position, nor to the best of our abilities will we implicitly endorse such a position by institutionally elevating those who do as officers, lecturers, etc., but will uphold historic orthodoxy and and Christian tradition.

Editing Process - What adjustments are needed?

• When you submit a piece with Anselm, you will be asked to agree to our Editing Policy, which allows our editors to edit and revise your piece. Our editors will look at the piece for brand adherence, styling, and concision/grammar editing, all the while trying to help illuminate your unique voice as a writer.
  **Note: you have the right to reject our edits and choose to not publish with us.***

• Additionally, when you submit a piece with Anselm, you will be asked to agree Anselm’s First Rights Agreement, which includes the giving up of all rights the author owns in the work until the author expressly asks Anselm to allow them to republish the work elsewhere. This will also allow Anselm to publish the work in any format — print, film, electronic formats, on the Internet. The author does retain the right to request his or her work to be taken down at any time, if he or she so chooses.

Revision Process

• Potential revision processes (as well as coaching, if desired) may be required.

Publishing Process

• We will post the piece online as well as share on social media.
  *In the future, the piece may also be published in a more formal quarterly digital publication.

Note: This schematic’s timeline can be anywhere from 2 weeks from submission to publishing to 6 months+ from ideas formulation to publishing.

Editor Job Descriptions:

(1 hour per week in one of the focused roles)

“Junior” editors take the first editorial pass after a submission is accepted, providing the most of the micro editing for grammar, syntax, usage, consistency, and coherence.

Beat editors own a topical or genre channel, curating content and creatives in that subject realm, which might be music, film, visual arts, theology, poetry – the potential list is endless..

Beta readers provide the essential “first read” of submissions and then recommend to the editorial staff (and the author) what each piece's next stage might be. Click here for more information

Proofreaders are the last pair of eyes on material that has gone through the previously mentioned stages, catching the inevitable typo or missing punctuation.

I’D LIKE TO GET STARTED, WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?

1. Communicate your interest, availability, and past experience through the volunteer intake-form and Sarah Howell will reach out to you! (sarah@anselmsociety.org).

2. Sarah will send you Anselm’s Writer Guidelines and Style Guide for your use and review.

3. The existing Editing team will bring you in on further projects as they come according to your ability and skill level.

Digital Content Managers Job Description: 30-60 minutes per week; uploading web and social content (we’ll train as needed).

+there’s also an opportunity for more expansive social media roles for people who understand how to get the most out of a specific platform

+Video curators: reviewing existing Anselm lecture videos, identifying 2-4 particularly good sections per video and clipping them for social posts/YouTube, shorts, etc.

We want to engage the individual by giving them regular inspiration and reminders that help them see all reality with a more Christian imagination through content on common social-networking feeds, but we need help getting it in front of people’s faces!

I’D LIKE TO GET STARTED, WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?

1. Communicate your interest, availability, and past experience to Sarah Howell (sarah@anselmsociety.org).

2. Sarah will connect you with our current Social Media Manager.

3. Orientation to Anselm’s voice and style of posting, as well as training (if needed), will be set up.

More fun for deeper follow-up dives into the details (*List compiled by Anselm Director Brian Brown)

• Gerald McDermott, “Everyday Glory: The Revelation of God in All of Reality.”
  Best book I’ve found summarizing concisely the symbolism in the created order, in redemptive history, and in Scripture–and how they all dialogue. If you’re new to that space, it’s an eye-opener because it helps you see precisely how the heavens declare the glory of God, so to speak–how all stories participate in the Great Story, how nature is infused with echoes of heave...in short, how the whole world is a lot more like Narnia than you realize.

• Anthony Esolen, “Ironies of Faith: The Laughter at the Heart of Christian Literature.”
  A bigger book, but Esolen is just great at making you weep at the beauty of how Christians have told themselves their own story, via everything from well-known classics to unknown foreign-language epics to medieval mystery plays.

• Leland Ryken, “The Christian Imagination.”
  Slightly misleading title but it’s a collection of essays by people like Lewis, Tolkien, L’Engle, etc. on faith and literature.

• William Dyrness, “Poetic Theology: God and the Poetics of Everyday Life.”
  Lovely book looking at (and usefully contrasting) different streams of the Christian imagination in different points in history and works of literature.

• …and Schmemann’s “For the Life of the World,” Boersma’s “Heavenly Participation”
  and many other beautiful theology books we are happy to help you prioritize if you wish. ;-)