Exploring what does and what does not constitute pilgrimage, Redefining Pilgrimage draws together a wide variety of disciplines including politics, anthropology, history, religion and sociology. Leading contributors offer a broad range of case studies from a wide geographical area, exploring new ways of approaching pilgrimage beyond the classical religious model. Re-thinking the global phenomenon of pilgrimages in the 21st century, this book offers new perspectives to redefine pilgrimage.
In Religious, Feminist, Activist, Laurel Zwissler investigates the political and religious identities of women who understand their social-justice activism as religiously motivated. Placing these women in historical context as faith-based activists for social change, this book discusses what their activities reveal about the public significance of religion in the pluralistic context of North America and in our increasingly globalized world. Zwissler's ethnographic interviews with feminist Catholics, Pagans, and United Church Protestants reveal radically different views of religious and political expression and illuminate how individual women and their communities negotiate issues of personal identity, spirituality, and political responsibility. Political activists of faith recount adventurous tales of run-ins with police, agonizing moments of fear and powerlessness in the face of global inequality, touching moments of community support, and successful projects that improve the lives of others. Religious, Feminist, Activist combines religion, politics, and globalization--subjects frequently discussed in macro terms--with individual personalities and intimate stories to provide a fresh perspective on what it means to be religiously and politically engaged. Zwissler also provides an insightful investigation into how religion and politics intersect for women on the political left.
THE HOLY GRAIL IS ONE of the most powerful myths in Western Culture. At the centre of this myth is the story of the chalice containing the Holy Blood of Christ, shed when Longinus pierced his side at the crucifixion. The search for the Grail has inspired artists and mystics for hundreds of years. Many churches and cathedrals were built on sites that claimed their part in this sacred mystery. IMBUED WITH THE SPIRIT OF the ancient quest and aware of its power as an antidote to our modern spiritual malaise, Ean and Deike Begg travelled throughout Europe, researching sites of the Holy Grail, the Precious Blood and their associated myths. This book is an illustrated account of their search and a practical, informative guidebook for travellers and seekers. It is full of fascinating information, such as the name of the Spanish cathedral that holds the cup of the Last Supper, the story of how a fig tree carried the Precious Blood to France and the secrets of the Grail castles of Germany. 'I believe that Ean and Deike Begg have done something of great importance in exploring the myth of the Holy Grail that played such a vital part in the deeps of Jung's spirit, and in re-establishing how now it is still one of the most dynamic elements in the search of the lost and bewildered modern soul for wholeness.'-Sir Laurens van der Post 'Deike and Ean Begg have revitalized the idea of pilgrimage.'-Michael Baigent 'An exemplary and vividly written guide to the many strange and beautiful sites associated with the Grail quest throughout Europe.'-Count Nikolai Tolstoy
This book creatively brings together the two literatures on pilgrimage and on ritual healing in a way neither set of books does on its own. It also adds a contemporary flair, with articles on Burning Man and on the Run to the Vietnam Memorial....A solid piece of scholarship with an exquisite introduction and collection of well-documented and engagingly written articles
The islands of the Outer Hebrides are home to some of the most remote and spectacular scenery in the world. They host an astonishing range of mysterious structures - stone circles, beehive dwellings, holy wells and 'temples' from the Celtic era. Over a twelve-day pilgrimage, often in appalling conditions, Alastair McIntosh returns to the islands of his childhood and explores the meaning of these places. Traversing moors and mountains, struggling through torrential rivers, he walks from the most southerly tip of Harris to the northerly Butt of Lewis. The book is a walk through space and time, across a physical landscape and into a spiritual one. As he battled with his own ability to endure some of the toughest terrain in Britain, he met with the healing power of the land and its communities. This is a moving book, a powerful reflection not simply of this extraordinary place and its people met along the way, but of imaginative hope for humankind.
This book presents new translations of a selection of Latin and French pilgrimage texts - and two in Greek - relating to Jerusalem and the Holy Land between the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 and the loss of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291. It therefore complements and extends existing studies, which deal with the period from Late Antiquity to Saladin's conquest. Such texts provide a wealth of information not only about the business of pilgrimage itself, but also on church history, topography, architecture and the social and economic conditions prevailing in Palestine in this period. Pilgrimage texts of the 13th century have not previously been studied as a group in this way; and, because the existing editions of them are scattered across a variety of rather obscure publications, they tend to be under-utilized by historians, despite their considerable interest. For instance, they are often more original than the texts of the 12th century, representing first-hand accounts of travellers rather than simple reworkings of older texts. Taken together, they document the changes that occurred in the pattern of pilgrimage after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, during its brief reoccupation by the Franks between 1229 and 1244, and during the period from 1260 onwards when the Mamluks gradually took military control of the whole country. In the 1250s-60s, for example, because of the difficulties faced by pilgrims in reaching Jerusalem itself, there developed an alternative set of holy sites offering indulgences in Acre. The bringing of Transjordan, southern Palestine and Sinai under Ayyubid and, later, Mamluk control also encouraged the development of the pilgrimage to St Catherine's monastery on Mount Sinai in this period. The translations are accompanied by explanatory footnotes and preceded by an introduction, which discusses the development of Holy Land pilgrimage in this period and the context, dating and composition of the texts themselves. The book concludes with a comprehensive list of sources and a detailed index.
Who could possibly have foreseen that the author of “Typee” and “Omoo” would at last appear as the author of a poem of 18,000 lines, inspired by religious doubts, questions and aspirations? That Mr. Melville has a vein of native poetry in his nature was already manifested by some ballads which he published during the civil war; but it still remains an amazement that the hero of whaling and Polynesian adventures had become a theological mystic in his ripened years. The plot of Clarel has been constructed as a frame upon which to hang descriptions of the scenery of Palestine and the theological discussions of a chance company of tourists. The principal characters are an American student, an English clergyman, a Jew, a Smyrniote Greek and a Jewish girl of whom we see little, as she dies in order to introduce a tragic element. The poem is divided into four parts, respectively entitled: Jerusalem, The Wilderness, Mar Saba and Bethlehem.
Jerome Gracián (1545–1614) was the first provincial of the Discalced Carmelite Order and a close collaborator of Saint Teresa of Ávila, the order's foundress. He brought stability and growth to St. Teresa's movement when it was still in its infancy, particularly among the friars. Praising Gracián in the Book of Her Foundations, Teresa writes: "Had I very much desired to ask His Majesty for a person to organize all things pertaining to the order in these initial stages, I would not have succeeded in asking for all that He gave me in Father Gracián. Our Lady has chosen him to help her order." After certain intrigues resulted in Gracián's expulsion from the order, he appealed to Rome and was eventually exonerated. After hearing Gracián's account of his dramatic experiences, the pope exclaimed he was "a saint." Although the Pilgrimage of Anastasius is largely Gracián's apologia pro vita sua, a defense of his conduct on behalf of the Discalced Carmelites, it also serves as a first-hand chronicle of the beginning of the Discalced Carmelite Order and sheds light on St. Teresa's vision and charism. Gracián was simultaneously St. Teresa's most ardent disciple and the superior to whom she made an extraordinary vow of obedience. He confirms the special love that St. Teresa had for him, and he loved her no less in return. Gracián fills his memoirs with captivating anecdotes involving influential historical figures and harrowing adventures. Notably, he relates the thrilling account of his capture at sea by slavers and his nearly two-year captivity in Tunisia. Above all, Pilgrimage of Anastasius offers readers a demonstration of Gracián's character, purity, and innocence. Observing how he maintained his faith amid his many trials, it is clear why St. Teresa loved him and had such confidence in him to carry out her vision for a religious renewal. This book contains a fully linked Index.
