{"product_id":"backpacking-with-the-saints-wilderness-hiking-as-spiritual-practice-hardcover","title":"Backpacking with the Saints: Wilderness Hiking as Spiritual Practice - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBelden C. Lane\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCarrying only basic camping equipment and a collection of the world's great spiritual writings, Belden C. Lane embarks on solitary spiritual treks through the Ozarks and across the American Southwest. For companions, he has only such teachers as Rumi, John of the Cross, Hildegard of Bingen, Dag Hammarskjöld, and Thomas Merton, and as he walks, he engages their writings with the natural wonders he encounters--Bell Mountain Wilderness with S ren Kierkegaard, Moonshine Hollow with Thich Nhat Hanh--demonstrating how being alone in the wild opens a rare view onto one's interior landscape, and how the saints' writings reveal the divine in nature. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe discipline of backpacking, Lane shows, is a metaphor for a spiritual journey. Just as the wilderness offered revelations to the early Desert Christians, backpacking hones crucial spiritual skills: paying attention, traveling light, practicing silence, and exercising wonder. Lane engages the practice not only with a wide range of spiritual writings--Celtic, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu, and Sufi Muslim--but with the fascination of other lovers of the backcountry, from John Muir and Ed Abbey to Bill Plotkin and Cheryl Strayed. In this intimate and down-to-earth narrative, backpacking is shown to be a spiritual practice that allows the discovery of God amidst the beauty and unexpected terrors of nature. Adoration, Lane suggests, is the most appropriate human response to what we cannot explain, but have nonetheless learned to love. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn enchanting narrative for Christians of all denominations, \u003cem\u003eBackpacking with the Saints\u003c\/em\u003e is an inspiring exploration of how solitude, simplicity, and mindfulness are illuminated and encouraged by the discipline of backcountry wandering, and of how the wilderness itself becomes a way of knowing-an ecology of the soul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBelden C. Lane\u003c\/strong\u003e is Professor of Theological Studies, American Religion, and History of Spirituality at Saint Louis University. He is the author of T\u003cem\u003ehe Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eRavished by Beauty: The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 288\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.9 x 9.3 x 6.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e December 01, 2014\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46663226065054,"sku":"9780199927814","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0745\/9402\/5630\/files\/1e25d0f2ba76d8349977ba56c4170a69.webp?v=1775067752","url":"https:\/\/iron-kraken-llc.myshopify.com\/products\/backpacking-with-the-saints-wilderness-hiking-as-spiritual-practice-hardcover","provider":"Iron Kraken","version":"1.0","type":"link"}