Pilgrim Spirituality: Defining Pilgrimage Again for the First Time - Paperback

by Rodney Aist (Author)

A pilgrim-themed spirituality for Christian formation, Pilgrim Spirituality resources everyday Christianity, congregational life, social outreach, and religious travel through definitional frames of pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is a prominent biblical image. Yet, despite its contemporary resurgence, its capacity for Christian formation remains untapped. While our understanding of pilgrimage has been too narrow, we lack a definitional framework that fosters transformational practice. Definitions matter, thought creates possibilities, and intentionality enhances experience. Recognizing pilgrimage as a comprehensive expression of the Christian life, Pilgrim Spirituality provides tools for perceiving spiritual possibilities, engaging situational context, and interpreting lived experience. Espousing both personal and social holiness, Pilgrim Spirituality gives definitional status to the Other, attends to the self, and seeks the presence of God in the facts in which we find ourselves. Pilgrim Spirituality examines Christian concepts of time, place, and journey, while emphasizing the personal, corporate, incarnational, metaphorical, and tensional character of the pilgrim life. Exploring the motives, experiences, and practices of pilgrimage, Pilgrim Spirituality resources readers in their destinational pursuit of the Christian faith: the union of God, self, and the Other.

Author Biography

Rodney Aist is a Holy Land scholar with a specialty in pilgrimage and

cross-cultural ministry. The course director at St. George's College,

Jerusalem, he teaches pilgrimage courses for lay and clergy from around

the world. A Methodist clergyperson, Rodney has served Christian

communities in Arkansas, Scotland, Italy, Jerusalem, and the Navajo

Nation. He is the cohort anchor for a doctor of ministry program in pilgrimage at Drew Theological School.