In deciding to take a pilgrimage in search of faith and an authentic spirituality, Timothy Egan took the road less traveled, the Via Francigena (“the way through France”) rather than the much more popular Camino de Santiago. The Via Francigena is a twelve-hundred-mile route from Canterbury to the Vatican through four European countries—England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. It was established by Sigeric the Serious, an archbishop of Canterbury, when he traveled to visit the pope in 990. The ground rules Egan sets for himself are to stay on the ground, mostly on foot, but train, bus, and car are allowed. This book is a delightful combination of memoir, travelogue, and history that is published by a secular press. Why, then, is it being reviewed in Horizons?
Most departments of theology and religious studies have a required introductory course. At Bellarmine University ours is called “Ultimate Questions.” I think A Pilgrimage to Eternity would be an excellent text for such an introductory course.
First of all, it is compelling and well written. Timothy Egan is a journalist who now writes a biweekly opinion column for the New York Times and is the author of nine nonfiction books; he has won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. He knows how to tell a story with clarity, insight, and wit. His pilgrimage includes interesting conversations among a diverse cast of characters that include his son, Casey, and daughter, Sophie, both questioning young adults, and his wife, Joni, who join him for different segments of the journey. It just might lure students to put down their gadgets and read a book.
Secondly, Egan is on a personal journey that we hope our students will also take. He describes himself as a professional skeptic, an Irish Catholic by baptism, culture, and upbringing, who is “lapsed but listening.” He attended Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane run by the Jesuits. Well versed in the shadow side of Christianity and the church from history and personal experience, he is searching for something to believe in, something he calls “a no-bullshit spirituality.” He carries both The Confessions of St. Augustine and Christopher Hitchens’ argument for atheism God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything on his Kindle and often engages both in dialogue, along with many others. Students can be drawn into these conversations and this journey.
Third, besides providing a relatively comprehensive history of Christianity and Western Europe, Egan addresses many significant and contentious subjects related to contemporary church and society, such as: misogyny in Christian history and the status of women in the church; the church's attitude toward sex, celibacy, homosexuality, and birth control; Christian participation in violence and war; pastoral care for refugees; and saints and sacred places. He addresses the clergy sexual-abuse crisis from the perspective of its effect on his brother and family. There is much reflection on miracles, in part because he is praying for a miracle for his sister-in-law, who is struggling with end-stage cancer. He is taken with the breath of fresh air Pope Francis has brought to the church, and a subplot of the book is his effort to have a personal audience with Francis when he arrives in Rome.
Thus a pilgrimage, besides being informative, awe-inspiring, interesting, and fun (when one is not crippled by blisters), is also serious business. It is “deep walking,” an inward religious journey in search of something to believe in, for meaning and purpose. As such I think this Pilgrimage would be an excellent introduction to faith and theology.
