Editor’s Commentary

With 2023 behind us and the new year opening for a great beginning, it is with pleasure that I get to announce to our readers that we have had the most successful January in the journal’s history. Furthermore, we welcomed two poets who have been publishing with us in the past as our inaugural poets-in-residence: Harold Jones and Micah Veillon. They will bring to the journal a consistency in poems that will help shape the continuing growth of our creative arts & poetry section. Additionally, we begun publishing a series of sonnets retelling the biblical narratives by Christopher Villiers; this cycle of “Sonnets from the Spirit” will be a year-long publishing commitment and is a major accomplishment for both him as a poet and VOEGELINVIEW as the home for these poems.

Over the course of the previous year, and going back into 2022, I made repeated mention of the ongoing transformation of the journal into a respectable and widely read online journal of the arts, culture, politics, philosophy, and religion. Specifically, the orientation of the journal was being transformed into a hub for public intellectual and cultural criticism—a place for essays, commentaries, reviews, and opinions about global events with an increasing focus on building creative and cultural arts section as all good cultural and literary magazines have. With this transformation complete, our goal is to bring high quality and readable content to help revive the heart of intellectual culture. Among our most read pieces last year were book reviews, movie reviews, and non-academic essays.

While VOEGELINVIEW will always reserve the right to publish august pieces of an implicit academic nature, especially from members of the Eric Voegelin Society and relating to the life and work of Eric Voegelin, this reorientation into a public journal of essays and criticism brings with it new opportunities and challenges for the future. In late 2023, the journal finally formalized a proper masthead and roster of senior writers and contributing editors. Additionally, a lot of time and effort has gone into networking for the journal to ensure a growth of new contributors and the establishment of regular contributors to ensure our readers are nourished with the insight and wit that different writers bring. It is hoped that those who are writing for the journal may also share the journal with their friends, fellow writers, and even students who would profit from our content. It is always a joy when a reader also has the courage to submit a possible contribution to the journal’s pages! Such help in expanding the journal’s reach is very much appreciated.

Lastly, we will restore “themed” editions this year. We are beginning with a themed edition on “Shakespeare and the Good Life” exploring the writings of William Shakespeare and what we can learn about love, human nature, and our relationship with the world and others through his dramas and poetry. Essentially, the return of themed editions being as calls for essays on the topical theme which will then permit a week or two weeks of dedicated publications to that topic. It will be like colloquiums or special editions published by current journals and magazines where the published content deals with a single theme or question but brings a multiplicity of views and interpretations to enlighten and inspire readers. It is with much hope and expectation that these continued changes will help to create a sense of artistic and literary community around VOEGELINVIEW and continue to permit the needed changes to build for the future.

As we continue to grow in this important work of cultural re-enchantment and becoming a publication for teachers, writers, students, and young scholars, it is important for us to acknowledge the real heart of everything we do: our readers. The gentle reader is the hidden motivation for so much of our work here at this journal. Thank you!

~ Paul Krause

Your Help Matters! VOEGELINVIEW is on the front line of the battlefields of culture and education. With readers and contributors across all continents, we value our ability to bring commentary, reviews, and poems on the enduring questions of the human condition. While free to read, the journal is not free to host and maintain. Therefore, the Eric Voegelin Society, which publishes VOEGELINVIEW, asks that you consider a tax-deductible donation to support the journal and the humanistic renewal of culture. Your support allows us to give back with our essays, reviews, poems, and more!

With support of the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy, the University of Wisconsin Foundation – a 501(c)(3) organization (EIN 39-0743975) – receives donations by credit card on behalf of the journal. If you would like to give a gift now, please go here and make sure the VoegelinView fund is selected: secure.supportuw.org/give

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