Abstract
This edited collection contains a variety of essays that explore the practice of pilgrimage, especially from the perspective of a teacher or leader who is seeking to provide a meaningful learning experience for others. It contains two parts, “Approaches,” and “Contexts,” the former of which focuses on frameworks or theoretical options for organizing a pilgrimage, while the latter provides specific examples and descriptions of spiritual journeys that each writer has planned and executed. Every chapter concludes with reflection questions and an annotated bibliography—resources that will be helpful for instructors or researchers who are engaging projects on pilgrimage, either as a practice or concept.
The five essays in the first part of the book provide abstract information about pilgrimages, including definitions, historical accounts, and literary and artistic representations of spiritual journeys. They reference works such as Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Henry David Thoreau’s essay, “Walking,” and philosophy, spanning from Aristotle to Rousseau and Hannah Arendt. These essays also draw on biblical and theological sources, which are aimed at helping readers understand the embodied and spiritual nature of pilgrimages. This section of the book may be helpful for teachers and students to read together as they prepare for a pilgrimage or solely for teachers who are presenting material. One particularly compelling essay is Heather A. Warfield’s, who presents a psychological perspective on pilgrimages using theories of human development, focusing on young adulthood and how a pilgrimage might figure into this stage of development. Warfield stresses that young adults need to accomplish inner work regarding their motivations and expectations both before and after the pilgrimage in order to augment the impact of their experiences. She writes that it is common for young adults to dismiss experiences that do not meet their expectations, and she suggests that those who are encouraged to look inward have a better chance of realizing “that the pilgrimage is intended to transform the pilgrim rather than the pilgrim controlling the pilgrimage” (p. 57).
The second section offers seven essays that describe specific pilgrimage experiences, including one popular among Hindus that runs from Haridwar, India, to the source of the Ganges; routes in Indonesia and Syria that brought the author into contact with Islamic spirituality; multiple sites in Japan, including the Kirarazaka Trail on Mount Hiei; a Sufi shrine in Senegal; the Camino de Santiago; wilderness hikes along places like the Appalachian Trail, the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier in Washington, and the Highlands of Scotland; and finally, a ten-mile walk around Flint, Michigan, which Mary Jo Kietzman calls “a damaged postindustrial city” (221). These essays provide various resources, such as complementary readings, financial and organizational logistics, stories of illness and injury, and personal reflections on interreligious encounters. John A. Shultz writes about undergraduates who study abroad in Japan and undertake individual pilgrimages, which prompts a student’s incisive question, “Why don’t I do the things I know will make me happy?” (159). Nougoutna Norbert Litoing’s observes that her Catholic faith helped her identify with the devotion of a Muslim community at the same time that it presented challenges, such as her exclusion from participation in a religious ritual. A very thought-provoking essay in this section is Kietzman’s, wherein she argues, “instead of abandoning blighted lands, we must teach the young to love such places not despite their brokenness but because of it” (222). Kietzman not only describes the inspiring encounters between her students and a broken city but models the virtuous act of giving a place (and a community) one’s presence.
Although the experience of reading this book sometimes left me feeling disjointed, given the wide range of essay topics and perspectives from which they are written, it is an excellent resource both for those leading pilgrimages and studying them. The reflection questions at the end of each essay could easily be adapted into group activities or individual assignments and the bibliographies similarly serve as practical offerings to aid others in course preparation. Finally, the breadth of ideas and resources presented on pilgrimage itself will remind readers of the significance of this tradition and its powerful role in our formation.