The Sacred Journey: The Ancient Practices
by Charles Foster

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When you imagine a book on Pilgrimage as a Christian practice, many of us would likely anticipate a romantic, beautiful, sweeping celebration of the pilgrimage inherent in all things–how we are all pilgrims and how we might live our lives with pilgrim eyes. The book would be sweet and inspiring, encouraging us to take the stairs, mindfully walk to the bathroom, or carpool as a sort of pilgrim troupe.

This is not that book.

The Sacred Journey by Charles Foster is, as the saying goes, not your mother’s reflection on pilgrimage. It is provocative, rowdy, and challenging; drenched with the sweat, embodiment, and surprise that accompany real, true pilgrimage. It is devoid of sentimentality and sweetness and refuses to be nice. It revels in smashing your theological assumptions and comforts.

And it is astonishingly good.

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