Pilgrimage: Journeys of Meaning

'A terrific read: I felt I had been to all these places myself’ Antonia Fraser

‘revitalising…the rigour of his research and analysis transcends creed’  Lucy Kehoe: Geographical Magazine

‘Peter Stanford couldn’t be better qualified as a guide’ Michael Kerr: Daily Telegraph

‘engaging... A horizon-enlarging survey of the world's journeys of faith’ US Booklist (starred review)

‘a fascinating study which has taken me to places I’ve known, places I’ve known of, and places of which I’ve never heard. Above all I found the central thesis of the distinction and also interdependence of factual and metaphysical truths utterly convincing’ Michael Arditti

‘Stanford amply demonstrates that pilgrimage, with its long history, will continue to lend itself to the search for meaning’ Colin Steele: Canberra Times

‘His openness is appealing…as we are treated to a geographically and sociologically eclectic and meticulous account of his chosen routes’ Sally Welch: Church Times

‘In his engrossing book, he invites the reader on an exploration of 12 ancient sites that call the modern pilgrim to a trip beyond travel, a purpose beyond pleasure’ Joan Taylor: Christian Science Monitor

Far from being an ancient religious tradition that is on the wane, especially with religion itself ever more marginalised in Western culture, the opening decades of the twenty first century have seen pilgrimage become ever more popular, most spectacularly on the Camino, through France and across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela. Elsewhere too it is tempting more travellers, as Pilgrimage: Journeys With Meaning explores. But what is that meaning, especially for today’s pilgrims who describe themselves as without religion - at least as they set off. At 12 destinations - the Camino, Rome, Jerusalem, Mecca, Lalibela in Ethiopia, Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the North Wales Pilgrims Way, the Kumbh Mela, the Buddha Trail of northern India, Shikoku in Japan, the Mormon Trail to Salt Lake City and Machu Picchu in Peru - describes how pilgrimage is resonating once more in a troubled world.

Published in London in hardback on March 25, 2021 by Thames & Hudson and in New York on May 11, 2021 by Norton (ISBN 9780500252413). Slovakian edition with Ikar s.a in June 2023. Spanish edition (Editorial Critica/Planeta) February 2024