Backpacking with the Saints, Belden C. Lane
Backpacking with the Saints, Belden C. Lane
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Backpacking with the Saints
Wilderness Hiking as Spiritual Practice

Author: Belden C. Lane

Narrator: Jim Denison

Unabridged: 11 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/31/2019

Synopsis

Carrying only basic camping equipment and a collection of the world's great spiritual writings, Belden C. Lane embarks on solitary spiritual treks through the Ozarks and across the American Southwest. For companions, he has only such teachers as Rumi, John of the Cross, Hildegard of Bingen, Dag Hammarskjöld, and Thomas Merton, and as he walks, he engages their writings with the natural wonders he encounters, demonstrating how being alone in the wild opens a rare view onto one's interior landscape, and how the saints' writings reveal the divine in nature.

The discipline of backpacking, Lane shows, is a metaphor for a spiritual journey. Just as the wilderness offered revelations to the early Desert Christians, backpacking hones crucial spiritual skills: paying attention, traveling light, practicing silence, and exercising wonder. Lane engages the practice not only with a wide range of spiritual writings, but with the fascination of other lovers of the backcountry, from John Muir and Ed Abbey to Bill Plotkin and Cheryl Strayed. In this intimate and down-to-earth narrative, backpacking is shown to be a spiritual practice that allows the discovery of God amidst the beauty and unexpected terrors of nature. Adoration, Lane suggests, is the most appropriate human response to what we cannot explain, but have nonetheless learned to love.

About Belden C. Lane

Belden C. Lane is a Presbyterian minister and Professor Emeritus of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. His books include Backpacking with the Saints: Wilderness Hiking as Spiritual Practice, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality, and Ravished by Beauty: The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Philip on September 12, 2019

The subject matter and lessons within this book truly spoke to my soul. At the same time, it was a surprisingly difficult text for me to read. After reading a page, or even a few paragraphs, I would find my mind wandering, musing over what I had read. I would bring my attention back to the text only......more

Goodreads review by Larry on December 19, 2018

I like backcountry and mystics so this book looked good. At first it seemed forced, like the author was a wannabee; a white collar or academic sort that is out of their element with common folk. It quickly got better, or maybe I just gained confidence in Lane, and I looked forward to each new chapte......more

Goodreads review by Laura on December 26, 2015

I'd compare reading this book to a long backpacking trip. You've enjoyed the journey but you're really ready for it to end. While it took a little bit to acclimate to Lane's prose, I enjoyed his connections between lessons learned in experiencing wilderness spaces in light of reading the lives/texts......more

Goodreads review by Grace on July 08, 2024

A weird experience to be reading a book about backpacking while sitting decidedly indoors, felt a bit hypocritical. Took me a bit to get into, but once I was into it, boy was I into it. His descriptions of spiritual movements within backpacking were delightfully thought provoking but also real. My p......more

Goodreads review by Dexter on June 19, 2022

I really enjoyed about 80% of the book, and the sections I enjoyed were world class. The author put the spirituality of spending time in the wilderness so well. He only misses for me we’re when I disagreed with the author due to our different interpretations on Christianity, but I thought it was at......more

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