Images of Pilgrimage: Paradise and Wilderness in Christian Spirituality

'Images of pilgrimage inform the consciousness and aspirations of every human culture, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated, in modern as well as in ancient times, in every quarter of the globe. These images belong somehow to the essence of our humanity; they are essential and permanent features of our spiritual landscape. Even if we deny the images, and seek to banish them, and lose ourselves in immediate occupations, still they impinge upon our consciousness, in the sense of emptiness and futility they leave behind them.’ This book collects six addresses on the theme of pilgrimage which were delivered by Robert Crouse, one of the finest contemplative theological minds of our age, to a handful of retreatants at St Augustine’s Monastery, Nova Scotia, more than thirty years ago.