Basic Information :
Synopsis :
Expectations :
Thoughts :
Evaluation :
Book Group :
New Words :
Book References :
Good Quotes :
Table of Contents :
References
Basic Information: Author: Arthur Paul Boers
Edition: epub on Libby from San Francisco Public Library
Publisher: IVP
ISBN: 9780830835072 (ISBN10: 0830835075)
Start Date: June 2, 2023
Read Date: June 17, 2023
219 pages
Genre: Christianity, Camino
Language Warning: None
Rated Overall: 4 out of 5
Religion: Christianity
Religious Quality: 3 out of 5
Christianity-Teaching Quality: 3 out of 5
Synopsis:
The
author walked the Camino de Santigo in the mid-2000’s. This book is
organized into chapters in line with his reflections or meditations rather than the
chronology of the walk. He talks about why people walk the Camino,
how it helped focus him on what is important in his life, virtues of
simplicity, self-examination, community and solitude, life after
pilgrimage and the place of walking in our modern life.
Expectations:
-
Recommendation:
Mars Hill Audio
-
When:
June 2, 2023
-
Date
Became Aware of Book: Jan 9, 2019
-
Why
do I want to read this book: Boers was interviewed during a Mars Hill
Friday Feature. During the interview it was said that Boers had also
walked the Camino. In the interview Boers talks about why people
walked the Camino, ranging from a believer to non-believer, from
those who are seekers to those who look at it as something to do.
-
What
do I think I will get out of it? I am interested in walking the
Camino one day. I would hold Boers gives some insight about why one
should walk it.
Thoughts:
Note: I make several references to Camino-that is the Camino de Santigo. Also I use the initials JMT-the John Muir Trail, which is a 211 miles trail through the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
Foreword
by Eugene Peterson
There
is nothing more pedestrian (literally!) than walking on a way, a
road, a path.
Good one Peterson!
Pilgrimage
is the ancient practice of walking, usually with others, to a holy
site while paying prayerful attention to everything that takes place
within and without, soul and body, all the ways that are inherent in
the Way, along with the companions who are also on the Way.
This is something to think about right from the get-go. I have wanted
to walk the Camino. And yet, as I have read this book, the more I ask
myself why? Not from walking. That seems interesting. But what is my
motivation? Is it like walking the JMT? Another trail to mark off as
saying I did it? Or do I want to walk it to explore my inner being?
As a way to get close to God?
Acknowledgments
Walking
the Camino de Santiago was the most intense experience of solitude in
my life, but I did not do it alone.
This is significant as I think of doing this walk as either alone or
with a small group of people who are family. But Boers points out
there is a whole wider range of people who assisted him in not only
writing this book, but also in planning his trip. As a Christian, it
is never just you and me God. Rather it is God, our fellowship,
family, friends, and me who make anything in my life possible.
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Copied from book
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Map
of Camino
Introduction
A
good way to start the book: I
once walked five hundred miles to attend church.
It took him 31 days to walk the Camino. He goes through a brief
background on the Camino. Also why he wanted to walk this path.
Previously he had gone to European places of prayer to study them-he
is a professor at a Mennonite college. There he discovered
pilgrimages.
Why
not just step out of the house and begin? Well, for one thing, not
every walk is a pilgrimage.
I think that is an important concept. Even walking the Camino may be
just a form of exercise without a spiritual component. This may be
the most important part of the book for me personally. Why do I want
to walk the Camino? Would the El Camino Real be just as good as the
Camino de Santigo?
How
is it that people of our day, with the longest lifespans in history
and a glut of “labor-saving” devices, find it astonishing to
think of committing serious time to a spiritual endeavor?
He
notes that many of his fellow travelers did not consider themselves
Christian. That is not to demean those who walked it, but more to
disperse the notion that it is by its nature a spiritual walk. To
Boers, he walked it because he felt called to walk it by God.
Boers
kept a journal-not from a walker’s perspective, but as a pilgrim.
It gave him time to reflect on passages which seemed well known.
Stefano: The
Camino works in me…step by step.
The Camino was a process for Boers. Change
the accent and process is a verb with spiritual connotations. In
religious ceremonies, celebrants and participants move in a
common direction as part of their worship, mini pilgrimages.
“all
the way to heaven is heaven”
attributed to Catherine of Siena. Boers, and others follow this up
with because
he
[Jesus]
said, I am the Way
[Camino].
Antonio
Machado: “ se hace camino al andar ” or “the way is made by
walking.” These well-known words have taken on a life of their
own,....
1.
I want to Be in That Number: Drawn to Pilgrimage
After
two weeks on the Camino, the author goes to emergency with infected
blisters. He is verging on depression with what he is missing. Still
no place where he would rather be. This all happens to many walkers
on the Camino.
Boers
uses the time walking as a time of prayer for others on the Camino as
well as a time of meditation.
Talks
about who James was.
Saints
are to be signs of Jesus; they point us toward Christ.
Not worshiping but for us to understand what it means to live like
Jesus.
I
like to think that walking makes any place holy.
I do not think this is true as I do not think walking my neighborhood
makes this place holy, except in the sense that all of God’s
creation is holy, we just do not recognize it as such.
Boers
points out that travel used to have the connotation of work. It was
only 200 years ago when that word started to be used in the context
of pleasure and rest. Scott
Russell Sanders says we “stripped the holiness from travel with our
commuting, our tourism, our idle shuttling about.”
So the Camino is hard work, sometimes painful.
His
outlook changed as people came around him. Still in pain, but able to
have the comfort of others. And then eating together tends to mend
us. This is why there was no place he would rather be.
2.
Seeking God's Homeland: Christian Roots of Pilgrimage
He
talks a lot about The
Way
and how this is Biblical.
His
wife walked the first ten days-left due to work. I
tried to rein in my feelings of loss.
One of those things which I enjoy hiking by myself. But I feel the
loss of companionship when Sherri is not there.
As
I am reading this book, I am caught with the thought that it matters
not how fast or long you walk, but it is the spirit you are walking
it in. I wonder if it is a detriment to have a goal when you are
walking a pilgrimage, but you make the journey the reason for the
walk. My thoughts, not his. It might be his thoughts as well as I
found this from the chapter-An
irony—indeed a danger—of pilgrimage is that we try to settle in a
final destination, considering only that particular place holy and
forgetting the call to be faithfully on the move for God.
Or later on he quotes Origen
“Travelers on the road to God’s wisdom find that the further they
go, the more the road opens out, until it stretches to infinity.”
Journeying,
wandering, exile and pilgrimage themes are found throughout
Scriptures.
Several examples including Adam and Eve, David, Moses, Jacob, Abraham
,... Boers points out the various places in the New Testament about
the way (odos) being used. In
Acts Jesus' followers were first known as “the Way” even before
being called “Christian”.
We
sometimes forget the association between church and walking.
He notes that we have lost the connection of walking and
spirituality. Many people, probably most, when they go to church,
they walk. Sometimes this is many hours to get there. At times, I
think it is too much of a hassle to drive there.
Augustine
famously prayed, “You made us for yourself and our hearts find no
peace until they rest in you.”
3.
Lord, Teach Us to Be Prayerful: Spirituality Lessons
How
do you maintain practices while on your pilgrimage? You would think
this would be simple. But at least when I hike, there is constant
movement from the time you get up till the time you go to bed.
He
asks Paul how he does it. He sings memorized Psalms, prays the Lord’s
prayer, and observes quietness while walking. Yet
questions remained. Would the demands of a pilgrimage affect what I
could do? Would there be enough privacy and solitude in hostels for
prayer in the early morning or late day? Would companions influence
my practices? More importantly, would I be deepened in Christian life
and faithfulness? Would I be taught by God along this way?
During
times of quiet and solitude, he would pray, ponder Scripture and read
from a volume of Teresa of Avila. His prayer was for friends and
family. Church bells would remind him of why he was there.
Regardless
of the source, these peals were also a call and reminder to pray.
Do they do that to me? Or do I just enjoy them?
He
would converse with God. Each
day, I examined a period in my life and talked it over with God.
Sounds like good practice. He also used Anne
Lamott’s two basic prayers, either “Thank you! Thank you! Thank
you!” or “Help me! Help me! Help me!”.
Church
Father Clement of Alexandria famously described prayer as “keeping
company with God.”
He
admired the trail left for pilgrims to follow-the yellow arrows and
the scallop shells. I
wonder what it would be like to have God’s will neatly laid out for
discernment with vivid flechas. Why the constant work of prayer,
journaling, Scripture reading, pondering, consulting with fellow
believers? And then often we still are not sure that we have it
right!
You read in places where pilgrims will not find them or there are
confusing signs. There I think you need to understand your
destination and follow the map-both literally and spiritually. Boers
would be on the look out for these blazes (flechas). He would get
tense until he found one, wondering did he lose the way?
See
God at work in all things.
This included going to ER for his blisters.
Coincidences
abound on the Camino. What did God want him to learn? What does God
want me to learn as I walk through life?
4.
Your Pack's Too Big: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
While
there is the temptation to make the pilgrimage only a spiritual
journey, the Camino will remind you that there is a physical
component to this journey as well. In this case, Boers is confronted
by a French volunteer who lets him know his pack is too heavy. As he
goes along, he does things like cut up books and discards what he has
read-something which is against his grain. He comes in with a pack of
30 pounds-which to me is a good weekend pack with food and water.
He
talks about how the early disciples and pilgrims took Jesus’
injunction seriously-take nothing on your journey.
He
brings this to our daily lives. How much stuff do we need? What is
extra baggage in life? So
for months one of Mary’s spiritual disciplines was to give up and
give away an item a day from her own household! [Her
mother had died recently and she was needing to go through her stuff.
This convinced her that she had too much stuff as well.]
He
quotes Mark 10:23, but thinks in the light of the friendly French
volunteer who wanted to make sure Boers finished the Camino rather
than give up from the weight of his backpack. Was this what Jesus was
doing with the rich young ruler?
He
notes the temptation of picking up souvenirs. In
tourism, consuming may replace actual experience.
Belongings,
then, always weigh on me at some level, even when I do not carry them
on my back.
The
more stuff we own, the more effort and energy it takes to keep,
maintain, insure and protect it.
When
you walk on The Way, you will stick your foot in poop.
Aldo
Leopold famously lamented, “One of the penalties of an ecological
education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.”
Our culture tends to insulate us from the issues of our living. Every
action we make, such as driving a car, is a theological decision and
statement.
Being
a pilgrim means changing one’s lifestyle.
5.
The Road That Leads to Life: Challenges of Faithful Pilgrimage
Every
day is still a struggle and each one requires a recommitment,”
Paul told me-both
on the Camino and in life. I
was continually frustrated at my inability to live up to my own
ideals. Why did the Christian journey have to be an ongoing battle,
I wondered.
Boers remembers that Jesus said to take up your cross DAILY. This
would be an ongoing struggle. Or as Law noted, each morning is a
resurrection.
There
was a certain freedom in not knowing everything that was ahead.
Book
title comes from a Spanish saying: “hace
camino al andar” or “the way is made by walking”.
Walking
and the wilderness may not be as comforting as it sounds. Jesus
and later the desert fathers and mothers show that wilderness is not
just a place of beauty and solace but also of testing and temptation.
6.
The Journey Is Long: Camino Confessions
A
pilgrimage gives a person a chance to review and evaluate themselves.
while
I never competed with others on the Camino, one person did pressure
me unmercifully. This one I could not avoid and found hard to resist.
I was my own greatest problem.
Hard to escape yourself.
In
Boers case, he seems to overdo things in his desire to achieve. There
is a temptation to compare and want to be like someone else, or
better.
Addictions
counselors advise paying special attention to being HALT: hungry,
angry, lonely or tired.
One
of the pilgrims said that the Camino got harder as you went along. He
insisted
that it grew more psychologically difficult as a person neared his or
her goal.
With my JMT hike that was true. First week was getting the body into
top shape. After that it was all psychological.
The
lesson Boers learnt was to be prayerful. He
learned to pay better attention to God—God’s company, God’s
workings and God’s interventions.
7.
Well That's the Camino: Hospitality and Solidarity
At
the end of a long walk day, feeling exhausted, he went to a Bed and
Breakfast. He was able to get refreshed with a fresh vegetarian
dinner and clean surroundings. A good night's sleep.
He
found that there was a wide range of establishments and hosts. While
very busy with their official duties, they did respond to
friendliness. He goes through a few of the more notable
characteristics of some of the refugios.
Over
and again, meals inspired and drew us together in surprising ways.
Seems like a plain meal would rouse the pilgrims spirits and create
community. Truly,
we met God in each other and while sharing food.
A friend told Boers once that If
you can read the Gospels without getting hungry, you’re not paying
attention.
Another author, Christine Pohll says that: A
shared meal is the activity most closely tied to the reality of God’s
Kingdom.
Boers
notes that many times there were people who did not share a common
language. They conversed as much as they could. There
was lots of smiling and laughter. That can be a good substitute when
vocabulary is insufficient.
Talking
helps people connect, knowing they are not alone in a struggle. One
resolution Boers made was that as bad as he is with small talk, he
resolved to do better and do it more often-just to establish that
connection.
There
is a sense among pilgrims that the Camino will provide.
While not a deity, it does seem to have a blessing to it that God
gives. Maybe it is by awaking hearts to sharing His goodness.
8.
No "Ustedes" Por Favor: The Rules Are Different Here
Where
are the boundaries on the Camino? That is what is discussed here. How
open can you be? How much do you share? The rules seem to be
different here where you would share deeply personal items with
people whom you might never meet again. Sounds like another thing to
get used to is that relationships will be transient.
He
talks about the former use of you
in different languages vs the more informal. English does not have
that differentiation, but other languages do. On the Camino,
everybody is equal, consequently, informal.
Being
an ignorant traveler has its perks.
On
the Camino it was important to move at one’s own pace.
This is something he talks about earlier.
We
all wanted and hoped for each person to succeed.
I
once heard social philosopher Albert Borgmann remark that a way to
recognize a particularly worthwhile moment is to be able to affirm:
“There is no one I’d rather be with.”
This is true. There are times where we have developed that special
relationship or that special moment.
Why
not encourage every believer we meet with a blessing? Is it so hard
to find a simple phrase to inspire others on the path, in their
following of Jesus the Way, the true Camino?
What would be a good blessing? Have a good day is so trite.
Philo
of Alexandria, an ancient Jewish philosopher, is reputed to have
said, “Be compassionate, for everyone you meet is fighting a great
battle.”
9.
Secular Seekers: The Disconnect of Pilgrims and Church
Many
of the walkers were not religious, at least at the start. They seemed
to be wanting to do the Camino like people want to do the JMT. On
the Camino, religious means Christian purposes of prayer or
repentance, while spiritual indicates something more than secular
goals but not necessarily Christian ones.)
It is a mixed lot on who walks the Camino and why.
Many
people did not engage. But Boers had many conversations about
religious matters, particularly after people found out what he did
for a living. As
a professor—and formerly a preacher—I spend much time proclaiming
the right way to think or theologize, but here I was called into a
different, more attentive mode.
People are complex. Boers not only walked a mile in their shoes, but
500 of them. So he gained a bit of understanding. Maybe that is what
we need in our culture, a bit more walking together.
Many
journelers. Seemed like most people wanted something more than what
our culture was giving them. He found that the best way to talk about
Christianity was to talk about following Jesus rather than church
matters or theology or politics. Boers feels this is a missed
opportunity by Christians-to minister to those on The Way.
Talks
about spiritual
not religious.
Seems
strange that as church attendance is diminishing, the popularity of
the Camino is increasing. Originally,
most Christian pilgrimage sites and routes were popularly initiated.
They were not begun by church leaders or hierarchies.
A while later in the book Boers interviewed Ray Simpson, an Anglican
priest, who
sadly concluded that church “worship has generally lost its street
credibility.
Taizé-Boers
spent time here a couple of years before walking the Camino. He was
influenced by what he experienced here. See the third Appendix.
In
an era when North Americans work longer hours than four decades ago
and perpetually complain of being busy, can we provide space for
sabbath and rest, renewal and reorientation?
Good question. Instead
we raise the threshold against inquirers if we only permit or expect
them to show up on Sunday mornings for formal services.
Most of the time, church doors are locked, except at times when there
are services.
The
author notes that Augustine said that our hearts are restless. It is
understandable that our feet are as well.
10.
Focal Ways of Life: Putting Pilgrimage into Practice
In
this chapter Boers talks about where our lives are focused. I think
this comes from a philosopher named Albert Borgemann-I only really
heard of him recently through Mars Hill Audio when they interviewed
him. Boers also is a disciple of him as well.
Boers
starts off with how mobile we are-we are always moving towards
someplace. All movement is not pilgrimage as not all places are
considered hallowed even if we honor those places or the people the
places it honors. Boers confesses that at times when things get
tough, he thinks about leaving. Henri
Nouwen encouraged me to stay instead and, in his words, “go
deeper.”
He
talks about something Siguard Olsen said. Boers commentary is One
place the church can engage the spiritual longing in our culture is
to name the shallowness of how many of us live and to offer and model
more grace-filled approaches.
I wonder how Boers thinks this can be done? Focal
living helps us identify and perceive Olson’s “something more,”
a quality of life that we miss and long to find.
Boers
defines Focal
concerns are [as]
objects,
activities or practices with several qualities.
Then he lists attributes of them:
First
they have a “commanding presence.” They take energy or effort;
they make demands on us. Some
examples he gives are hiking and cooking.
Second,
focal things and practices have deep and evident connections with the
wider world, including people and our ecosystem.
Example can be playing an instrument connected with a composer and
the listener, while a counterexample is heating up food in a
microwave is done with isolation or interaction with others.
Third,
focal realities have “centering” or orienting power. They help us
experience and be in touch with something “as greater than myself
and of ultimate significance.” He
gives an example that a cathedral or a wilderness has a tendency to
grab you and keep your focus and make that a focal point of your
attention..
One
reason the Camino is so attractive is that it points to different
ways and possibilities for living.
Borgmans
has for focal affirmations.
“When
were you last able to affirm them?”
There
is no place I would rather be.
There
is nothing I would rather do.
There
is no one I would rather be with.
This
I will remember well
That
should be at the forefront of my thought. Not what I am going to do
next.
There
is a sense of comradery, even if a person is hiking alone. There is a
shared sense of doing something unusual together. Boers experienced
only minor aggravations from fellow walkers, not any large scale
disagreements. That may be due to the nature of this walk. If there
is someone disagreeable to you, you can discreetly drift away-walk at
a different pace.
But
he points out that there is a shared goal without competition.
What
you did in real life is a common starting question. Careers
can be places where we feel conflicted and torn. … We engaged
questions about how we choose to live, where we expend time and
energy, and how we employ gifts.
Not only was there talking about occupations, but how they felt about
their occupation. Some decided after the Camino to change
occupations. To Boers, the Camino is a reminder that an occupation
is a means to an end-to live and provide. Not the end of a matter.
11.
Walking in Faith: Walking as Spiritual Practice
Like
hikers on the JMT, Camino walkers discuss body issues which would
almost never ever be discussed with strangers. I’ve
said, rules were different on the Camino.
He notes that the average American only walks a few hundred yards a
day. I do not think he is right. A doctor
at the Mayo Clinic
puts it at 1.5 to 2 miles a day.
Nhat Hanh often observes: not only walking on water is a marvel, even
walking on the earth is a miracle.
Look
up feet/foot in Scripture. Boers notes that it is mentioned a lot
more often than we recognize.
Even
before the Camino, Boers noted that extended times of walking helped
to reset him. His method includes:
-
Relax,
take deep breaths and release tensions
-
Evaluate
what is causing the tension
-
Gain
perspective
-
How
did life get out of balance
-
Clarity
on situations
St.
Marcellus
Advocates
renewed emphasis on spiritual disciplines.
Prayer
Walking.
I
had fretted over my feet, and here they were—after a close
call—working well. It was all gift and grace
12.
Here I Walk, I Can Do No Other: Keeping Faith With Our Feet
The
age old question for backpackers-what is essential and what is a
nicety? No clear cut answers in either the book nor in real life.
His immediate question concerns a small map he was given of the
entire Camino. For hikers the overall picture is far less important
than the immediate, which way do I turn?
Walkers
need different kinds of maps than drivers or riders. The world
looks and feels different on foot than in a vehicle. Cars flatten
experience of the earth: while you can’t help noticing serious
hills, many slopes are not perceived.
I do not think Boers went far enough. When you automate something,
you no longer have to pay attention to the particulars. You are more
interested in how it is functioning, rather than why am I doing
something. Your experiences are different as well.
If
saunter really does stem from Saint Terre, then by using my own two
feet I am learning to honor and cherish the holiness of place.
This is a popular walking/hiking word. John
Muir picked
it up from Thoreau.
It has an aire of aimlessness.
Walking
affects not just space and distance but also time itself. In our
high-speed way of living—which we intriguingly call “driven”—we
miss many things. Christian faith calls us to a different pace of
life, and walking is a vital way to achieve that.
I wish that Boers would have expanded on this-both from why does he
think we are called to this and in what form it would take. On the
first, by not being driven, we have time to listen. Listen
particularly to God and then listen and experience that which is
around me.
Driving
is an activity that is almost always merely a means to an end. Live
time, however, is worthwhile in itself; it is enjoyable with its own
internal, intrinsic goods.
Interesting. Even in retirement, do I experience “Live Time”?
They
[the
Hebrews under Moses walking across the desert] learned
“the word of God in the wilderness as they walked three miles an
hour” with “the three mile an hour God.”
That is a really interesting expression. This came from Kosuke
Koyama.
Walking
is an act of dissent; it is countercultural.
Is a 30 minute wasted time?
Conclusion
Talks
about his arrival to Santiago. There was the bittersweet of meeting
people whom he had walked with so far and yet would never see again
in this life. I imagine
the afterlife to be an opportunity to catch up with those I’ve lost
touch with along the way: friends and family, brothers and sisters
in the faith, casual acquaintances, and even historical saints who
inspired me from afar.
And
then there is the sadness of accomplishing a goal and wondering, is
that all? Meister
Eckhart that I heard at a low point years ago: “Whatever happens to
you is the best possible thing for your salvation.”
Taizé
verse:
Bless
the Lord, my soul
And
bless God’s holy name
Bless
the Lord, my soul,
who
leads me into life.
And
then there is a fitting quote from Abbess Samanthnn to end the main
part of the book: Since
God is near to all who call upon him, we are under no obligation to
cross the sea. The kingdom of heaven can be reached from every land
Appendix
1. Recovering and Reclaiming Christian Pilgrimage
A
pilgrimage is a journey undertaken in the light of a story. A great
event has happened; the pilgrim hears the reports and goes in search
of evidence, aspiring to be an eyewitness. The pilgrim seeks not
only to confirm the experience of others firsthand but to be
changed by the experience.
Talks
about a Celtic tradition where they believe there are “thin places”
where God seems more accessible to humans. Not sure that is true, but
I suspect there are places where we are more accessible to God-not
that God cannot reach us anyplace, rather we let our defenses down
and it is a place where we are more receptive to listen to God
speaking to us.
Does
a brief history of Christian pilgrimage and resistance to it. An
unknown Irish leader warned about the fruitlessness of pilgrimage
unless you already had your house in order. “To
go to Rome means great toil and little profit. The [heavenly] king
whom you seek can only be found there if you bring him within
yourself.”
This
is the question I have: Tourist or Pilgrim? Boers is not opposed to
being a tourist, just do not wrap yourself in the cloak of a pilgrim
if you do. Boers sees this as a continuum rather than an either/or.
He suggests five tests to help determine what you are doing. One of
them struck me particularly: Pilgrimage
has a purpose, goal and destination of meeting and encountering God
and God’s truths.
We
should first visualize our daily walk in this life as a pilgrimage.
Even going to church should be done in that spirit.
He
concludes this with several elements of pilgrimage, including this
one: The
pilgrim goes with a spirit of openness, hoping to encounter God and
anticipating the growth that this encounter invites. Pilgrimages are
not done casually but require time to prepare and ready oneself.
Appendix
2. Planning a Christian Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
can grow from all kinds of motives: need for rest, realization that
something about your faith has grown dull or stale, facing a
transition, trying to process a major crisis, longing for healing or
resolution, inexplicable attraction to a particular sojourn, desire
for more intense prayer, yearning to explore and better understand
your beliefs, wanting to review your life or set a new course.
What
would be my motivation for doing something like the Camino? Pray,
talk through it with your small group and family. Keep a journal of
thoughts about it. Read.
Once
you have gone, ponder what you have learned and felt.
He
notes that it is hard to have other people interested in his
experiences. I found this with the JMT. They only wanted a couple
sentences to summarize 24 days, 221 miles. I wanted at least a page
to share, if not a chapter.
Don’t
underestimate the power of corporate support for pilgrimage.
Appendix
3. Pilgrimage Destinations
Boers
lists other sites which might work as pilgrimage sites. He says this
is not an exhaustive list. With each of the places listed below, he
gives a description based upon an author and then some reference
books.
-
ASPEREN,
SOUTH HOLLAND, NETHERLANDS
-
CANTERBURY
AND THE PILGRIMS’ WAY, ENGLAND
-
COVENTRY,
ENGLAND
-
CROAGH
PATRICK, COUNTY MAYO, IRELAND
-
GLENDALOUGH,
COUNTY WICKLOW, IRELAND
-
HOLY
ISLAND, LINDISFARNE, ENGLAND
-
IONA
COMMUNITY, SCOTLAND
-
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
-
JULIAN
CELL, NORWICH, ENGLAND
-
MEDJUGORJE
-
ROME
-
SYRIA
-
TAIZÉ,
FRANCE
Appendix
4. Camino Pilgrimage Resources
He
provides a list of books about the Camino. Some are guidebooks, some
are more biographical and some are spiritual.
Notes
The
Bible is an outdoor book: Wendell
Berry, “Christianity and the Survival of Creation,” in Sex,
Economy, Freedom & Community
(New York: Pantheon, 1992), p. 103.
Evaluation:
Arthur
Boers walked the Camino de Santigo in the mid-2000’s. This book is
a series of reflections on his adventure. It is not a travel guide
nor a series of meditations, but how the Camino affected him,
particularly places which he has felt too comfortable in our world.
Boers
has been a Mennonite pastor and is currently a professor at the
Mennonite Seminary in Elkhart. He approached the Camino as a
Christian who is Dutch from an Anabapist tradition. As such, some of
the Catholicism of the Camino was a bit foreign to him, along with
the language-he was sufficiently conversational in Dutch, French and
Spanish to make himself understood. But during the Catholic services
there was a lot which over his head.
This
was a good book for me to read as I have a desire to walk the Camino
myself. But there are question he asks: are you looking for this to
be walked as I would hike in the Sierra or a pilgrimage. This book is
helping to clarify my thoughts on it.
Notes from my book group:
Why
did you read this book?
Were
you more or less interested in walking the Camino de Santiago after
reading this book?
How
do you want your life to change because you read this book?
What
makes a long walk a pilgrimage? How are the two different?
Boers
asks the question: How
is it that people of our day, with the longest lifespans in history
and a glut of “labor-saving” devices, find it astonishing to
think of committing serious time to a spiritual endeavor?
What is your answer?
Along
the Camino are markings, Flechas, which show the pilgrim where to go.
Was there a time when Boers lost these markings? What was his
reaction? How does Boers show this is how God also gives us
directions?
As
Boers starts his Camino walk, a volunteer encourages him to lighten
his load. How does Boers use this experience in chapter 4? In what
ways do you carry too much stuff?
If
you have done a long walk, did you find yourself being more prayerful
or touching things more spiritually? If you have not, what do you
think it would be like?
Boers
talks about how the simplicity of a meal seemed to have the pilgrims
bound closer together. Why do you think that is? Has this been your
experience when you have eaten with other people where you are having
a shared experience?
Boers
said he did not do small talk well, but he resolved to do it better
and more often. Why? What benefit did he find in small talk? Do you
agree?
When
someone has had a great adventure such as a pilgrimage or a long
walk, how do you listen to the person?
He
felt that he was called by God to walk the Camino. How does he
describe this calling?
Many
of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
Why
the title of The
Way Was Made By Walking?
Does
this story work as a spiritual reflection?
Every
story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s
world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
In
what context was religion talked about in this book?
Was
there anybody you would consider religious?
How
did they show it?
Was
the book overtly religious?
How
did it affect the book's story?
Why
do you think the author wrote this book?
What
would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What
“takeaways” did you have from this book?
What
central ideas does the author present?
Are
they personal, sociological, global, economic, spiritual?
What
evidence
does the author use to support the book's ideas?
Is
the evidence convincing...definitive or...speculative?
Does
the author depend on personal opinion, observation, and assessment?
Or is the evidence factual—based on science, statistics, historical
documents, or quotations from (credible) experts?
What
implications for you, our nation or the world do these ideas have?
Are
these idea’s controversial?
To
whom and why?
Describe
the culture talked about in the book.
How
is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
What
economic or political situations are described?
Does
the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the
arts, religious beliefs, language or food?
How
did this book affect your view of the world?
Of
how God is viewed?
What
questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
Talk
about specific passages that struck you as significant—or
interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
What
was memorable?
New Words:
