Why do they still come? Fourteen hundred years after a handful of Celtic monks withdrew to tiny islands in the sea, and almost a thousand years after the last of them disappeared, a steady streams of modern men and women make the difficult trek to these isolated places. Why? What did the ancient monks know that we have forgotten, or remember only dimly? What are we looking for when we journey to such sacred places? We are looking, among other things, for wisdom-for clues about how to live in a frantic, materialistic, care-worn world that is, in many ways, hostile to life. And we sense that those who lived here so long ago, though they have left very little behind, have something to teach us. In Search of Sacred Places: Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands is the story of a reluctant pilgrimage, taken by a man with no great faith in sacred places. He is a man filled with modern questions and suspicions, who nonetheless returns home from these thin places with a better understanding of how to live. This book interweaves spiritual quest, travel, memoir, history, theological reflection, cultural analysis, and personal introspection-all conveyed in an engaging, probing, and honest voice. It is a book for those on the hunt for meaning who share the hope that God has sown it throughout this world-perhaps more thickly in certain sacred places.
--This text refers to the
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Taylor, a literature professor from Minnesota's Bethel University, meant to go to London to study Sir Thomas More, but first he followed a friend's recommendation to visit the Iona community in Scotland. Then, having seen one ancient sacred site, he wanted to see others. Over the next six weeks, he gave himself a whirlwind tour of Lindisfarne, Norwich and Durham in England; St. Brigid's well, Glendalough and Skellig Michael in Ireland; St. David's in Wales and various museums in Dublin and London—all either pilgrimage sites or sources of information about Celtic Christians. As he describes what he saw, he ruminates on the nature of holiness, bristles at the easy faith of modern Christians and relentlessly examines his own mixed feelings. Taylor, author of The Myth of Certainty, does not consider himself a model pilgrim: "I go to Iona and Lindisfarne and Skellig Michael to get a tangible taste of an intangible and fearful reality. But I want only a taste." Nevertheless, he feels changed by his experience: "I am working my way toward seeing all of life as simply different manifestations of worship, and taking these saints as my guide." Though too short on detail to be a pilgrim's only guide, Taylor's book provokes the kinds of reflections that make pilgrimages worthwhile. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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More About the Author
Daniel Taylor (Ph.D., Emory University) is the author of ten books, including The Myth of Certainty, Letters to My Children, Tell Me A Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories, In Search of Sacred Places, and, most recently, Creating a Spiritual Legacy. He has also worked on a number of Bible translations. He speaks frequently at conferences, colleges, retreats, and churches on a variety of topics. Dr. Taylor is also co-founder of The Legacy Center, an organization devoted to helping individuals and organizations identify and preserve the values and stories that have shaped their lives. He is a contributing editor of Books and Culture. Dr. Taylor is married and the father of four adult children.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every Day Pilgrims,
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This review is from: In Search of Sacred Places: Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands (Hardcover)
Although the sacred places Taylor shares with us are moving, it is his personal honesty, humility and his wry humor that make sacredness and pilgrimage, commitment and faith, accessible. I am grateful to the author for voicing the questions and the doubts that I have as he (and I and many others) try to live our lives in ways that keep us awake to the wonders and blessings of our world in the midst of what often seems hopeless.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Readable, interesting, and inspiring,
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This review is from: In Search of Sacred Places: Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands (Hardcover)
I've visited all three of these places and, at least for me, Taylor has captured a good bit of their magic. His writing is easy to read and entertaining and leavened with just the right touch of humor.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The testimony of his spiritual quest and journey toward understanding,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: In Search of Sacred Places: Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands (Hardcover)
Literature and writing professor Daniel Taylor presents In Search Of Sacred Places, the testimony of his spiritual quest and journey toward understanding in his experience among islands once considered holy to the ancient Celts. Part history, part memoir, part travelogue, part spiritual quest, and part personal introspection, In Search Of Sacred Places ponders both the unknowable and the mundane, and brims with the author's abiding insights and wonder. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this deeply respectful and spiritual account.
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