Pilgrimage: Holy Land
Overview
The complex history of the Holy Land is one of both sacred places and contested spaces. Indeed, the religious and historical significance of the land is so great that even the language we use to describe it has tremendous implications. Moreover, the sacred nature of this land within Abrahamic traditions is capable of evoking such visceral reactions that it can be difficult to develop relationships across lines of similarity within and among religious traditions.
The Pilgrimage: Holy Land journey delved into those common values while also acknowledging deep historical and religious difference. Blending spiritual and academic components, participants explored themes of sacred space, memory, and reconciliation. Though the Spring 2020 program was unable to travel due to COVID-19, the experience sought common values of listening, respect, and compassion, while renewing participants' commitment to their individual faiths and establishing a new commitment to mulifaith dialogue and interfaith cooperation.
Through Pilgrimage: Holy Land, students used historical, social, political, and spiritual insight to:
- Understand the religious and historical significance of the Holy Land in Abrahamic traditions
- Consider the role of memory in shaping and affecting individual and group identities
- Appreciate competing narratives concerning the Holy Land, and their influence on current events.