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Pilgrimages
Pilgrimage, the journey to a distant sacred goal, is found in all the great religions of the world. It is a journey both outwards to hallowed places and inwards to spiritual improvement; it can express penance for past evils, or the search for future good; the pilgrim may pursue spiritual ecstasy in the sacred sites of a particular faith, or seek a miracle through the medium of god or saint. Throughout the world, pilgrims move invisibly in huge numbers among the tourists of today, indistinguishable from them except in purpose. In England each year thousands of pilgrims make the journey to Canterbury cathedral and the shrine of Thomas Becket; the great festival at Prayaga on the Ganges attracts over fifteen million men and women. This is the first book to offer a survey of the great pilgrimage traditions. It outlines the history of different customs and brings together some of the common themes, revealing in the process surprising similarities in practice among pilgrims of widely differing beliefs and times.
168 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1991
14 people want to read
About the author
Richard Barber
166 books32 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Richard William Barber is a prominent British historian who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days. He has specialised in the Arthurian legend, beginning with a general survey, Arthur of Albion, in 1961, which is still in print in a revised edition. His other major interest is historical biography; he has published on Henry Plantagenet (1964) and among his other books is the standard biography of Edward the Black Prince, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. The interplay between history and literature was the theme of The Knight and Chivalry, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1971 and he returned to this in The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (2004); this was widely praised in the UK press, and had major reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
His other career has been as a publisher. In 1969 he helped to found The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd, one of the leading publishers in medieval studies, and he is currently group managing director. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester, started the University of Rochester Press in upstate New York. The group currently publishes over 200 titles a year.
Richard William Barber is a prominent British historian who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days. He has specialised in the Arthurian legend, beginning with a general survey, Arthur of Albion, in 1961, which is still in print in a revised edition. His other major interest is historical biography; he has published on Henry Plantagenet (1964) and among his other books is the standard biography of Edward the Black Prince, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. The interplay between history and literature was the theme of The Knight and Chivalry, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1971 and he returned to this in The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (2004); this was widely praised in the UK press, and had major reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
His other career has been as a publisher. In 1969 he helped to found The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd, one of the leading publishers in medieval studies, and he is currently group managing director. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester, started the University of Rochester Press in upstate New York. The group currently publishes over 200 titles a year.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 26, 2023
En jämförande bok om hur den gamla världens stora religioner har förhållit sig till pilgrimskap och pilgrimskulter. Boken är trevlig, lärd och välskriven, men knappast djuplodande. Om man är intresserad nog att plocka upp den, har man förmodligen de förkunskaper som gör att den inte är lika relevant som den hade kunnat vara.
Därför tillåter jag mig en rekommendation: Om du är en nörd under 25 år, som är intresserad av jämförande religionshistoria, historia, världsbyggande eller religiösa beteenden, så är denna bok för dig. Istället för att slå dig igenom 2000 sidor av diverse specialistverk, så får du här på lättfattliga 170 sidor en bra överblick, som innehåller både kultiska och sociala aspekter av pilgrimskapets väsen, såväl som de historiska konsekvenserna av olika förhållningssätt till det. Det är en (mycket) lågt hängande frukt.
Därför tillåter jag mig en rekommendation: Om du är en nörd under 25 år, som är intresserad av jämförande religionshistoria, historia, världsbyggande eller religiösa beteenden, så är denna bok för dig. Istället för att slå dig igenom 2000 sidor av diverse specialistverk, så får du här på lättfattliga 170 sidor en bra överblick, som innehåller både kultiska och sociala aspekter av pilgrimskapets väsen, såväl som de historiska konsekvenserna av olika förhållningssätt till det. Det är en (mycket) lågt hängande frukt.
Displaying 1 of 1 review