It is a blessing to have so many dedicated and talented Christian writers who are willing to share their work with us. Many of them choose to share it through Substack, a platform for email newsletters. I follow all kinds of Substacks and thought it might be helpful to create a roundup of some of my favorites, many of which may be familiar if you keep up with my daily A La Carte feature. I have listed them in no particular order and, for each, added a couple of representative pieces of their work. [notes]
(I don’t have a lot of experience publishing tables like this. If it looks wonky, especially in the daily email, click to my site and read it there. If even that doesn’t work, I’ll fix it first thing in the morning!)
| Substack | Description |
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Stephen McAlpine Stephen McAlpine |
Stephen is an Australian “public theologian and author who explores the current cultural moment in the West through the lens of orthodox Christian theology and ethical practices, with an emphasis on equipping the church to navigate rapid and unsettling change.” He writes a few times a week and usually covers contemporary cultural issues. Some of his articles are only for paid subscribers. (Also see Stephen’s blog where he shares equally good content.) |
|
Digital Liturgies Samuel James |
Samuel, who has written an excellent book that shares a name with his Substack, says his newsletter is “an attempt to express the intersection of a robustly evangelical, Reformed Christianity with life in a modern, technological society.” Where our age is fractured, algorithmic, and reactive, “Christian wisdom calls us to reflection, truth-telling, and humility.” He attempts to recover and model those virtues. |
|
Lost Arts Michael Jensen |
Michael writes thoughtful articles on a variety of subjects, many of them related to Christian living. He says, “Modern life has made us faster, louder, and more efficient. It has not always made us wiser. … This is not a Substack about outrage, culture wars, or hot takes. It is an attempt to step back from the noise and name what is worth recovering. The aim is not nostalgia, but retrieval: learning how to be human again under modern conditions.” |
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Biblical Theology Mitchell Chase |
Mitchell is a pastor and a professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He says that in his writing “I want to read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old. I want to marvel at the truth, beauty, goodness, and depth of Scripture.” Mostly he wants to celebrate the person and work of Jesus Christ. His content, a mix of paid and free, will be interesting to anyone who loves Scripture. |
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You Are Not Your Own Alan Noble |
Alan says his Substack “is a weekly newsletter with short essays, notes, and extended arguments from Alan Noble, associate professor of English, author of [several books], and frequent speaker on the topics of secularism, technology, culture, and Christianity.” He tends to share several articles a week, some of which are free to everyone and some of which are for paid subscribers only. |
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Further Up Bethel McGrew |
Bethel writes long and thoughtful pieces that tend to focus on matters of contemporary importance. Some of her content is free, but much of the best of it is for paid subscribers. |
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Mere Orthodoxy Various |
Mere Orthodoxy is an online publication that covers church, culture, formation, family, theology, technology, and more. “Through faithfulness to Christ in every square inch of life, we seek the renewal of the Church and culture in our lifetime.” Much of the material requires a paid subscription, so you may prefer to track with mereorthodoxy.com where it may not. |
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From Glory to Ordinary Brianna Lambert |
Brianna’s Substack features articles on a wide variety of topics, many of them related to her life and interests. |
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Et Cetera Mark Sims |
Sims is a talented writer who offers thoughtful pieces on a wide variety of subjects. |
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Aaron Renn Aaron Renn |
Renn is “a writer and consultant in Indianapolis, and author of the book Life in the Negative World” whose writing has appeared in many Christian and general market publications. He posts several times a week—typically one podcast, one article, and one digest of interesting material from across the internet. He often features guest writers. Some of his articles are for paid subscribers only. |
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Thomas Kidd’s Substack Thomas Kidd |
Kidd is Research Professor of Church History at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Kidd writes occasionally and often covers areas related to history and academia. (He also blogs from time to time at TGC’s Evangelical History blog which he co-authors with Justin Taylor.) |
|
Write to Understand Scott Hurst |
Scott, who pastors a church in the Toronto area, says, “I learn as I write. Understanding the important truths of life—who is God, who am I, what is the gospel etc.—will always be an ink and paper (and their digital equivalent) pursuit because, for me, writing is thinking.” |
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Wyatt Graham Wyatt Graham |
Wyatt, a Canadian pastor and theologian, says, “I make sense of today by drawing on past wisdom. In particular, I write on philosophy, religion, and culture. What sets this Substack apart is its unique emphasis on citing, reading, and discussing sources directly rather than relying on second or third-hand accounts.” |
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One Little Word Daniel Darling |
Daniel is the Director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has written for a wide variety of Christian and mainstream publications. His writing focuses on “insights on faith, politics, and leadership, lessons from history, and writing and publishing tips.” |
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One Thing Necessary Casey McCall |
Casey is a pastor-historian with a wide variety of interests and, therefore, a wide variety of articles. He also writes with Jake Stone at Elephant in the Room which engages “the contemporary church and culture from the confessional Baptist tradition.” |
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Theology and Life Blake Long |
Blake’s writing is similar to a traditional blog—reflections based on his life at work, home, church, and in the wider community. |
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FYI with Chris Martin Chris Martin |
Chris, a creative director at Moody Publishers, says his Substack is “a newsletter that serves as a window into the creative test kitchen and mad science writing laboratory of Chris Martin.” Chris has written two excellent books on Christians and technology, so much of his writing is on that subject. (He also maintains The Funnies, which is a modern-day equivalent to the Saturday comics of former days.) |
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Fields and Valleys Vanessa Doughty |
Vanessa writes reflective and devotional articles that are often focused on growing in godly contentment. Her articles also reflect her love of gardening, nature, and reading God’s Word. |
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New Grub Street Andrew Roycroft |
Much of Andrew’s Substack focuses on poetry, both his own and others, but he also writes on other themes. He is an exceptionally talented writer, so even if you are not particularly interested in poetry, you may still benefit from his newsletter. His older articles are behind a paywall. |
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The Bard Owl Nicholas McDonald |
Nicholas survived deconstruction and has written a book about that very thing. On his Substack, he writes about a wide variety of subjects at The Bard Owl, typically sharing new content a couple of times a week. |
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Counsel the Word Tom Sugimura |
Tom is a pastor and Christian counselor who writes about applying the Bible to everyday life so Christians can live with wisdom, endurance, courage, and hope. Hence, “Counsel the Word is for those seeking to apply the principles of Scripture to their everyday life.” |
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The SubZak Zak Mellgren |
Zak shares about one piece a week and writes about good books and various topics related to the Christian faith. |
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Sacramentality Various |
This group effort covers a variety of topics. The vision of the authors “is to offer a prophetic, insightful, Christian voice which analyses both church and culture in a manner that is both lucid and distinct. Whether covering Reformed Paganism, astrology, or simply ‘God’s mum’, we want to inspire our readers to think, laugh, cry, and—above all—praise Christ.” |
|
Spiritual Theology J.A. Medders |
Medders maintains a focus on Charles Spurgeon (since he is, after all, a self-professed Spurgeon fan). But he writes about other subjects as well. Many of his archived articles are behind a paywall. |
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Pursuing Perfection Tessa Lind |
Tessa writes a wide variety of articles with the ongoing theme of God’s grace in her life. |
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From the Wildwoods Esther Roth |
Esther is a poet—a talented one—who shares some of her work through her newsletter. |
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The Peace of Presence Pierce Taylor Hibbs |
Pierce is a prolific author who writes about many subjects at his Substack. |
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Treasuring Christ Brittany Allen |
Britt says, “I write a lot about suffering, chronic illness, miscarriage, motherhood, theology, and whatever else the Lord lays on my heart. When I’m feeling brave, I might publish some poetry.” |
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Think Twice Kara Dedert |
Kara’s blog is for “those who want to live thoughtfully and faithfully in a distracted world — to see modern life through the lens of the gospel which brings clarity, joy, and certainty.” A good bit of her content is for paid subscribers only. |
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Murray’s Substack Murray Campbell |
Murray, who is from Melbourne, Australia, focuses much of his writing on his local context. However, the majority is relevant even to those who live beyond Melbourne and beyond Australia. |
Notes, caveats, and explanations:
- I am certain I have missed some worthy writers whose work I enjoy very much. Just know I did my best. I apologize profusely to those who ought to have been on this list, yet are not.
- I have generally omitted writers who use their Substack primarily to direct readers to articles they have published elsewhere. Jonathan Van Maren is an example. I follow and appreciate his writing, but he largely points to his full-length articles at other sites.
- Obviously, this list contains only Substacks. I will try to follow up in the near future with a similar list of blogs.
- I recently wrote that the best way to learn to use AI well is to disclose when you’ve used it. To that end, I created this table and all its information myself, but then used Claude to improve the layout. By way of experiment, I also had it create the graphic at the top of the article.
