The exchange of ideas is essential to American democracy. We at Current are trying to do our part.

At Current, we believe that good thinking makes the smooth places rough. Much of our public discourse today, to borrow a line from Columbia University historian Barbara Fields, is “toggling between blurb and melodrama.” It is woefully flat, predictable, and unimaginative.

Democratic life is messy. It requires debate, conversation, and persuasion. We at Current have created a space that seeks to model this aspect of democratic life. We publish critical voices–old and new. We review books that teach us how to be human in this world. We publish creative non-fiction that illuminates the virtues necessary for us to live together with one another.

Current is not a Christian publication, but we take faith seriously and some of our contributors write out of a religious tradition. Some of our staff have roots in American evangelical Christianity and thus have a passion for getting their fellow believers to understand themselves better and think harder about how Christians should engage in public life.

We are writers, historians, literary critics, public theologians, cultural critics, teachers, and artists who care about the United States of America and believe we have something to offer to make it, and the world, a better place. Everyday we publish a feature and multiple blog posts at two blogs: The Arena and The Way of Improvement Leads Home. We are not a Substack. We are an online journal of opinion and commentary.

Producing Current takes time and money and we could use your help to keep moving forward. Here is how you can help us:

1. Tell your friends about us. Share what we publish. Help others find us.
2. Sign-up for our free newsletter and get Current in your inbox daily, weekly, or in real time. (See the red SUBCRIBE button in the right column of Current’s homepage.)
3. Become a MEMBER. Consider supporting our work. Members get everything we publish at the site (no paywall) and access to the comments of every feature and blog post. Click the red MEMBERSHIP button in the top right corner of the site.

Thanks so much for your help! We are hoping some of you might find our work worthwhile enough to help us make it through another year.