Since its founding in 1989, Image journal has not only emerged as one of North America’s leading quarterlies but also carved out a unique identity as the source for contemporary art and literature that grapple with the perennial questions of religious faith. / Bearing the Mystery brings together in one handsome volume the best of Image journal’s first twenty years ― the work of nearly seventy writers and over twenty visual artists (some represented on sixteen color plates). / Here you will find short stories that range from unnerving encounters with the miraculous to gritty realism; lyric poems that reinterpret the Psalms and plumb the depths of doubt and faith; searingly honest memoirs that search out glimpses of grace among the difficulties and joys of everyday life. / Among the all-star cast of writers whose work appears here: Scott Cairns, Annie Dillard, Clyde Edgerton, Patricia Hampl, Ron Hansen, Edward Hirsch, Linda Hogan, Denise Levertov, Philip Levine, Marilyn Nelson, Kathleen Norris, Gregory Orr, Ann Patchett, David Plante, Richard Rodrieguez, Wim Wenders, Christian Wiman, and Franz Wright. / With a special introduction by founder and editor Gregory Wolfe that reflects on the journal’s mission, Bearing the Mystery is indeed a treasure trove. Provocative, haunting, and bracing, the work gathered here demonstrates that ― even in a postmodern era ― the ancient practice of making art to record humanity’s encounter with the divine is alive and well. Gregory Wolfe is publisher and editor of Image journal, writer-in-residence and Director of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Seattle Pacific University.