Landscape as Sacred Space: Metaphors for the Spiritual Journey

Steven Lewiss Landscape as Sacred Space: Metaphors for the Spiritual Journey invites new discussions about our spiritual journeys and allows seekers to rethink approaches to Christian spirituality and theology in light of postmodernity. Landscape metaphors provide a common and accessible language to articulate ones spiritual journey. Spiritual mountains deserts and valleys are dominant landscapes on our journey through life. Most people have experienced the joy of a mountaintop spiritual experience the pain of spiritual deserts or perhaps the dreariness too often associated with spiritual valleys. There is a tendency however to highlight spiritual mountaintops while avoiding spiritual deserts and ignoring spiritual valleys. This leaves many Christians ill-equipped either to deal with crises or to integrate God into ordinary life. Each landscape offers rich lessons that when combined together lead us toward a maturing faith and into a deeper relationship with God. Landscape as Sacred Space is intended to aid those who search for more meaningful ways to articulate their faith journey. The book grants permission to struggle with lifes landscapes provides safe spaces to reflect on the journey and introduces language that enables exploration and discovery. Mountaintops deserts and valleys--physical spaces at once familiar yet strange and apt metaphors for moments in any persons life. Steve Lewis employs these landscapes to help Christians consider the familiar and the strange the welcome and the avoided dimensions of their own journeys of life and faith. Drawing on biblical resources and classic traditions in spirituality to develop these landscape metaphors Lewis invites readers to a deeper appreciation of a disciples journey a fuller sense of the myriad ways God invites a disciple into intimacy and a more finely honed sensitivity to Gods actions in the world. A refreshing perspective on the spiritual journey. --Patricia OConnell Killen Pacific Lutheran University co-author of The Art of Theological Reflection. Steven Lewis PhD is the Academic Dean at Bangor Theological Seminary in Portland Maine.