Dear Substack reader,
Welcome to TERRAIN’s online publication. If you’re reading this in your inbox, you’ll soon be receiving further installments of our first issue. If you’re new to us, I think it’s important that we get acquainted first.
In November of 2023, I went in search for a group of people who would be willing to write for an academic Christian journal at The University of Texas. Over the span of only a week, a group of more than ten people formed, and we grew in number as the weeks went on. Now, just a few months later, we’re presenting to you our very first issue. How did we get here? The answer I think has something to do with our theme for this semester: The Dawn.
The Dawn is not a just cliché metaphor for this journal’s genesis. It is a metaphor for our faith. C.S. Lewis famously stated, “I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen; not because I see, it but because by it, I see everything else.” This group of people did not form on the basis of blind allegiance, collective consciousness, or inherited religion. TERRAIN exists because we believe Christianity really is the best explanation of reality.
The Dawn also represents an attitude toward the many questions faith entails. While we believe Christianity is true, there are many parts of it that defy easy comprehension. There’s no way to get around this. So instead, with the same attitude of wonder with which we observe the rising sun, we turn to art and discourse. For as long as the Christian tradition has persisted, art has been used to make sense of our God, ourselves, and our experiences. Similarly, we also find in ourselves an innate desire to develop our questions and doubts through writing, and through discussion. As TERRAIN grows, we hope you see in it our love for the variety of ways in which we express our striving for understanding: whether through poems, stories, traditional essays, photography, or even graphic design, we are wrestling each in our own way with the truth.
TERRAIN took shape because of the vigour of these shared values. If you’re readinf this, I hope you will consider it an invitation to participate in a community that desires to humbly and passionately engage with difficult conversations. I hope you find in it something of the universal, something magnificent, something astounding — something like The Dawn.
If you have any questions or comments, we encourage you to engage with the content to come. Feel free to leave a comment or message us. You can also reach us at terrainjournal@gmail.com or @ut.terrain on Instagram.
Faithfully,
Madelyn Hajovsky