Sacred Journeys

Call for Papers

More than 400 million people embark annually on pilgrimages with numbers steadily increasing. Pilgrimage is one of the most ancient practices of humankind and is associated with a great variety of religious and spiritual traditions, beliefs and sacred geographies. As a global phenomenon, pilgrimage facilitates interaction between and among diverse peoples from countless cultures, occupations, and walks of life. In the 7th Global Conference, we will continue to explore pilgrimage’s personal, interpersonal, intercultural, and international dimensions. This includes similarities and differences in the practice in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, and other traditions, as well as secular pilgrimage. The impact of the internet and globalization, pilgrimage as protest, and pilgrimage and peace building, among others, are all topics of interest, as are the concepts of the internal pilgrimage and the journey of self-discovery. Other potential topics include: (1) pilgrimage and the marketplace (2) the metaphor of the journey as explored by writers, artists, performers, and singers, including humanists, agnostics, atheists, and musicians (3) pilgrimage and miracles and the related topic of thanksgiving, and (4) dark pilgrimages to sites of remembrance and commemoration.