The Sacred Journey - a review.

Recently I read The Sacred Journey from the Ancient Practices series by Charles Foster.

I enjoyed reading The Sacred Journey, but is many aspect, it read more like a spiritual diatribe that often led in circles and then back on itself. The material has compelled me to think differently about how I see a pilgrimage, but often seems to try to make a point at expense of other points. Foster tells us that we need to get out on the road, to take an actual physical journey and leave everything else behind. He seems to switch gears and the tell us that anywhere we are or go is a pilgrimage and we don't really need to go far. He goes back to the thesis that we need to leave everything and be on the road, and then seems to double back over himself again. He does use scripture, but also seems to make a lot of assumptions. His assumes that Cain was sedentary and Abel was a nomad because he was a Shepherd. That seems to be a bold assumption, combined with the idea that God preferred Abel for that reason.

I would recommend this book if you want to challenge your ideas and thinking, but I am not convinced I need to travel to Canterbury or Rome or Jerusalem. I do agree that we need to travel each place with a sense or wonder and expectation for God to move. Some of the material seemed very un-spiritual and some seemed hyper-spiritual and some seemed to be more balanced. Overall, it was worth reading, can become redundant in some places, but once you get through it, you feel like you have taken quite the journey yourself.