Like so many terms once thick with significance, “pilgrimage” now registers mostly as quaint. And yet for centuries, pilgrimage was not only an important Christian practice, but an image for the whole of Christian life. In this short text, Ryan McAnnally-Linz explores what it means to live pilgrim lives as Christians: lives “on the way”—not yet at home.
Embark on a pilgrimage...
“[T]he Christian life is a pilgrimage not so much from here to there, as from here to … here. It is a pilgrimage deeper into things. Deeper into the reality of particular creatures, whether our human neighbors or our other-than-human fellows. Deeper into the pulsing intensity of places: soil and sunlight, water and air, the histories layered like sediment in landscapes and built environments. Deeper into the warp and weft of a whole web of interwoven relationships.”
— Ryan McAnnally-Linz, "From Here to Here"
From here to ... here.
What are the possibilities of homemaking in a world out of joint? What does it mean for Christians to be on a pilgrimage? To be sojourners in the world?
In this exclusive subscriber download, Ryan McAnnally-Linz offers an exploration of what it means for Christian life to be a pilgrimage. Drawing from St. Augustine, Willie James Jennings, and his own book co-authored with Miroslav Volf, The Home of God, Ryan reflects on the tension between pilgrimage and homemaking. He concludes by presenting examples of three faithful ways to approach the work of homemaking that anticipates how the world is becoming the home of God—considering Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement, Julian of Norwich, and a modern-day farming family.
Bonus...
After you read the essay, supplement your learning by listening to Ryan McAnnally-Linz and Evan Rosa discuss "From Here to Here" in more depth on a recent episode of For the Life of the World.
From Here to Here
Like so many terms once thick with significance, “pilgrimage” now registers mostly as quaint. And yet for centuries, pilgrimage was not only an important Christian practice, but an image for the whole of Christian life. In this short text, Ryan McAnnally-Linz explores what it means to live pilgrim lives as Christians: lives “on the way”—not yet at home.