Frequently Asked Questions

Beautiful Stories is a five-year storytelling initiative of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination. Through writing, film, audio, gatherings, and the work of the Beautiful Stories Collective, the initiative explores Christian faith as it is lived across different people, places, communities, and traditions.

Its mission is to tell stories that awaken the heart, enlarge the mind, and stir the possibility that Christian faith is wilder, more beautiful, and more human than we remember.

Beautiful Stories is for anyone drawn to thoughtful, beautifully crafted work about faith and life. It is especially for those who are curious, questioning, weary, hopeful, or simply looking for a more honest and expansive way to engage with Christian faith. No particular set of beliefs, answers, or certainties is required. Curiosity is welcome here.

Yes. Beautiful Stories is rooted in Christian faith and is an initiative of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination. Shared belief is not a prerequisite for engaging with the work. The initiative makes room for doubt, complexity, struggle, discovery, and the many ways people encounter and understand faith throughout their lives.

The Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination carries forward the theological and pastoral vision of pastor, author, and translator Eugene Peterson. Through programs, resources, gatherings, and creative work, the Center nurtures a way of being that is faithful, contemplative, joyful, holy, and deeply human. Beautiful Stories is one expression of that larger vision.
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The Beautiful Stories Collective is a collaboration among organizations from across the country, each rooted in its own communities, relationships, and theological and storytelling traditions. Over five years, Collective partners will create and share work through writing, music, podcasts, film, gatherings, live storytelling, and more, bringing a wider range of voices, places, and perspectives into the initiative.
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Stories featured are developed through a combination of editorial research, the work of individual contributors, and recommendations and creative work from Collective partners. Feature stories for the Journal are selected and developed with editorial oversight, including research, editing, fact-checking, and theological review. Other work may originate with contributors or Collective partners and appear across Beautiful Stories in writing, audio, film, or other forms.

Beautiful Stories does not currently accept public story submissions. Stories and contributors are identified through editorial research, relationships, and the work of Beautiful Stories Collective partners. This approach allows the editorial team to develop each piece with the time, care, and collaboration the project requires.

Subscribe to the Beautiful Stories newsletter to receive new writing, audio, films, invitations to upcoming gatherings, and occasional updates from across the initiative. Over five years, there will be plenty more to discover.
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