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Traveling the Earthly Kingdom
Marcia Z. Nelson -- 5/29/00
For the past several years, a distinct current has flowed through the wave of books on practical spirituality, and it seems to be gaining strength with each season. Spiritual travel books and guides are being developed and published for those seeking to explore religious tradition and rediscover religious roots while they journey. Vacation-pilgrimages to traditional holy places and to sites newly deemed sacred have spiritually redeeming value as well as a long history in religion.
Catholic publisher Paulist Press drew lessons from its success last year with Bed and Blessings Italy by June Walsh and Anne Walsh, a guide to overnight lodging in Italian convents and monasteries. The book earned notice in USA Today and has so far sold more than 15,000 copies. This fall, Paulist debuts the Spiritual Traveler series, guides that will be published under its new general-trade imprint HiddenSpring. "Pilgrimage--across all religions--has been a powerful mystic experience for thousands of people for thousands of years," Jan-Erik Guerth, editorial director for HiddenSpring, tells PW. "More and more people are rediscovering the thirst for doing more than a vacation." Guerth ambitiously hopes the series will gain the brand recognition of the Rough Guides and Fodor's series. The first title this fall is England, Scotland and Wales by Martin and Nigel Palmer, the former a recognized authority on Eastern and Western spirituality. Next spring will bring Sacred Places in New York City by CUNY professor Ed Bergman, published in association with the New York Landmarks Conservancy.
Still another approach to applied spirituality marries reader interests in travel, spirituality and the Internet. From Simcha Press, the new Judaica imprint of Health Communications, comes thelordismyshepherd.com: Seeking God in Cyberspace (Sept.) by Joshua Hammerman, a rabbi who chronicles his spiritual journey to the world's key religious sites via the Internet. Readers can use both computer and book to follow Hammerman's pilgrimage. Kim Weiss, who heads the Simcha imprint, says this book fits the line's mission to enrich Jewish spirituality, adding that it should sell well beyond that niche.
Other spiritual travel offerings include Still in Search of Dharma: Indian and Ceylonese Travelers in 15th Century Tibet (Wisdom, July) by Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp; The Initiation: Adventure and Enlightenment in the Heart of India (Element, May) by Donald Schnell (Prema Baba Swamiji); Rome 1300: On the Path of the Pilgrim (Yale, May) by Herbert L. Kessler and Johanna Zacharias; Pilgrim's Progress: A Spiritual Guide for the Holy Land Traveler (Geneva Press, Mar.) by Robert and Gwynneth Wallace; and The Spirit of Asia: Journeys to the Sacred Places of the East (Thames & Hudson, Oct.) by Michael Freeman and Alistair Schearer. Travelers' Tales offers A Woman's Path: Women's Best Spiritual Travel Writing (May), edited by Lucy McCauley, Amy G. Carlson and Jennifer Leo, and Pilgrimage: Adventures of the Soul (Oct.), edited by Sean O'Reilly and James O'Reilly.
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