About Metanoia
Metanoia is a journal about humanity’s search for ultimate reality, and about the kind of knowledge that many traditions say transforms the one who has it. A new issue appears every two weeks. Each is free to read online and free to download as a typeset PDF, and will stay so.
The name§
Metanoia is a Greek word for a change of mind. In the New Testament it is usually translated as repentance, but its older sense is broader: a turning of the whole understanding, after which one sees differently. The traditions we study claim to bring about such a change. The journal’s name is a description of its subject, and a reminder of what is at stake in it.
What we publish§
Each issue gathers an editorial and a small number of pieces of different kinds: essays, which argue a question; studies, which compare thinkers or traditions closely; commentaries, which read a single text slowly; reviews, which reread important books; and dialogues, in which more than one voice is given room. Every piece links to the Library, where the people, traditions, concepts and texts it discusses have pages of their own, and to the Great Questions it contributes to.
We write for serious general readers: people who want to understand these traditions accurately, whatever their own convictions, and who are willing to read slowly. We assume no specialist knowledge, and we try never to condescend.
Editorial philosophy§
We value inquiry over certainty. We read primary sources, attend to history and language, and report what scholars argue, including where they disagree. We distinguish experience from interpretation, and scholarship from our own proposals. We write about every tradition with respect, and we try to describe each one in a way its own thoughtful members could recognize.
Every page marks what kind of statement it is making: a historical note, a primary passage, a scholarly note, or a note from Metanoia, which is our own view and meant to be argued with. Our Method and Source Protocol pages set out these practices in full.
Who writes it§
Unsigned pieces, including the editorials, are written by the Editors. Signed contributions carry their authors’ names, and each contributor has a page listing their work.
Free to read§
Metanoia carries no paywall and no advertising. The site does not use tracking cookies; its analytics count visits without identifying readers. The PDF of each issue is free to download and print.
Publisher§
Metanoia is published by the Unitive Knowledge Society. It is an intellectual publication in its own right, open to readers of every tradition and none.