Encountering the Sacred - (Transformation of the Classical Heritage) by Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book is certainly the most important study of early Christian pilgrimage in decades. Lucidly written, far-reaching, and theoretically informed."--David Frankfurter, author of "Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance"

Book Synopsis

This innovative study sheds new light on one of the most spectacular changes to occur in late antiquity-the rise of pilgrimage all over the Christian world-by setting the phenomenon against the wide background of the political and theological debates of the time. Asking how the emerging notion of a sacred geography challenged the leading intellectuals and ecclesiastical authorities, Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony deftly reshapes our understanding of early Christian mentalities by unraveling the process by which a territory of grace became a territory of power.

Examining ancient writers' responses to the rising practice of pilgrimage, Bitton-Ashkelony offers a nuanced reading of their thinking on the merits and the demerits of pilgrimage, revealing theological and ecclesiastical motivations that have been overlooked, and questioning the long-held assumption of scholars that pilgrimage was only a popular, not an elite, religious practice. In addition to Greek and Latin sources, she includes Syriac material, which allows her to build a rich picture of the emerging theology of landscape that took shape over the fourth to sixth centuries.

From the Back Cover

"This book is certainly the most important study of early Christian pilgrimage in decades. Lucidly written, far-reaching, and theoretically informed."--David Frankfurter, author of Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance

Review Quotes

"This book is certainly the most important study of early Christian pilgrimage in decades. Lucidly written, far-reaching, and theoretically informed."

About the Author

Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is coeditor of Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity (2004).