Landscape as Sacred Space

Steven Lewis's 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 one's 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 life's 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 person's 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 disciple's journey, a fuller sense of the myriad ways God invites a disciple into intimacy, and a more finely honed sensitivity to God's actions in the world. A refreshing perspective on the spiritual journey."" --Patricia O'Connell 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.