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Want to write?

Want to write?
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Calling writers, podcasters, artists, and theologians!

We need you!  If you’d like to write for Redeeming Culture, let me know! This place will get pretty boring if it’s just one person rambling on. Join us! Redeem culture with us! Comment below, or drop us a line at contributors@redeemingculture.com.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

Got questions?

Don’t we all.  Here are some FAQs about contributing.

  • Are you going to steal my ideas and pass them off as your own?  Nope, absolutely not.  You retain all ownership to whatever you write.  You just give us the right to edit, post, and promote your article.
  • Is submitting an article a shoo-in?  Not necessarily.  We don’t have a lot of contributors, so you have a pretty good shot, but we won’t publish everything.
  • When will my article show up?  Probably soon.  We post on Wednesdays, and our content buffer only goes out a few weeks.
  • How do I do it?  Well, first you should know and believe The Story.  Redeeming Culture is unashamedly a Christian project; we skew story-positive and reformed, and we try to admit when we got things wrong. We like theology and we try not to take ourselves too seriously.
    Second, I recommend taking a look at Redeeming Culture 101! It’s not the only way to Redeem Culture, but it gives a pretty good pattern to begin with.

Guidelines

Guidelines for posting are few:

  • Theology:  Sound and Biblical.  As I said above, I tend to skew reformed in my theology and writing, but that’s not mandated.
  • Tone:  Informal but not too conversational.  Also, cliches and unexplained “Christianese” should be avoided.
  • Length:  Around 600-800 words, with wide latitude to go shorter or longer as the topic demands.
  • Structure:  For some series (such as Tough Passages and Trektember), a specific structure is suggested, though not demanded.  If you want to submit for a specific series, email us and see if we have any specific structure suggestions.

Direction

You have wide latitude to make the article your own; we’re happy to provide feedback at any time.  We also have some suggestions:

  • Try to avoid the surface-level and obvious. “Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrificed his life like Jesus did” is (debatably) true, but it’s something that most people could probably figure out on their own.  Find something less obvious, or go deeper into detail.  That said…
  • Don’t put something into the narrative that isn’t there. “Buttercup is like the Woman at the Well” would be a tough sell; if you see it there, defend the point; but be faithful to the media and characters, and don’t shoehorn in something that isn’t there.
  • Try to avoid moralistic therapeutic deism. The message of the Gospel isn’t “Do-better-try-harder-be-nicer,” it’s “Jesus did it all, all to Him I owe.” By all means, encourage readers to spiritual disciplines, but remind them that the Cross covers all our weaknesses.
  • It’s about the hearts of the listeners, not just the parallels.  Don’t just think about why something looks like a story from the Bible; think about why God put that story on our heart in the first place, and why it resonates with us when we hear a good version of that story.

Housekeeping

Some other things to think about if you want to write for us:

  • Editing: We’ll make minor copyedits, minor edits for tone, and formatting changes before posting any accepted article. If we feel the need for larger changes, we’ll let you know.
  • Crossposting: During the week the article is current, please allow the “canonical version” to be the one appearing on RedeemingCulture.com.  If you want to crosspost on your own site, we’d prefer you either link to your article on this site or wait a week until the next article is posted.  (Note: if you’re participating in an Event such as Trektember, please wait until the entire event has completed).
  • Social Media: If you want to signal-boost your article when we post it on the Redeeming Culture social media by resharing, that would be great.
  • Legal/Ownership: As far as we’re concerned, you still own your article and can do what you like with it (post it, publish it, whatever). It would be nice if you’d mention RedeemingCulture.com in those projects.  Note that we retain ownership of the site, the site name, the recurring series names (“3D: The Redeeming Culture Podcast,” “Trektember,” “Tough Passages,” etc), and the articles developed by in-house writers.  We don’t claim ownership over anything else; however, if you need legalese for a current or future project, you “retain ownership but are granting Redeeming Culture a perpetual, non-revokable license to edit, present, and promote the content.”  We aren’t the litigious sort.  We hope you aren’t, either.

Thanks!  See you in the funny pages!

Last Updated June 2017