Pílagrímur á 21. öld er yfirskrift málþings sem fram fer í Skálholti 20. maí n.k. kl. 11-16.
Dagskrá málþingsins er eftirfarandi:
Fyrir hádegi:
- Dr. Ian Bradley – Pílagrímur á 21. öld. Ian er frá Skotlandi og flytur erindið á ensku. Hann er með fjölþættan starfsferil sem blaðamaður, kennari, rithöfundur, útvarpsmaður, fræðimaður og prestur. Sjá nánar á www.skalholt.is
- Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir Að lesa menningarlandslagið. Margrét er þjóðminjavörður, fil. kand. í fornleifafræði og með meistaragráður í sagnfræði og stjórnsýslufræði. Hún er í stjórn Ferðafélags Íslands og áhugasöm um pílagrímagöngur.
Eftir hádegi:
- Sr. Elínborg Sturludóttir Að ganga í átt að gleði og sátt. Elínborg er sóknarprestur í Stafholti og formaður félagsins Pílagrímar. Hefur leitt margar pílagrímagöngur.
- Björn Erlingsson Hvernig gengur vísindamaður með Guði? Björn er hafeðlisfræðingur og áhugamaður um pílagríma- göngur. Hann hefur þrisvar gengið leiðina Bær – Skálholt sem er 120 km. löng
- Ásta Camilla Gylfadóttir Sjá himinsins opnast hlið! Ásta er landslagsarkitekt og áhugasöm um pílagrímagöngur. Hún gekk leiðina Bær – Skálholt á síðasta ári.
Aðalfyrirlesari er dr. Ian Bradley, með fjölþættan starfsferil sem blaðamaður, kennari, rithöfundur, útvarpsmaður, fræðimaður og prestur.
Dr. Ian Bradley er forseti St Mary’s College, guðfræðideildar St Andrews háskólans í Skotlandi. Hann er lektor í kirkjusögu og kennimannlegri guðfræði og stúdentaprestur háskólans á vegum skosku kirkjunnar. Hann er einnig viðurkenndur fræðimaður á sviði sálmasögu og kirkjutónlistar og um óperur Gilbert og Sullivan.
Ian flytur reglulega fyrirlestra við háskólann í Aberdeen, auk St Andrews háskóla, er reglulega með útvarpsþætti og skrifar greinar á trúmálasíðu dagblaðsins The Times. Hann þjónaði sem prestur í ellefu ár við Holy Trinity kirkjuna í St Andrews og stýrði trúarbragðadeild BBC í Skotlandi.
Ian hefur ritað 35 bækur, þar af fjalla 6 um keltneska kristni. Bók hans Pilgrimage: A Spiritual and Cultural Journey hefur verið þýdd á norsku, hollensku, japönsku og arabísku. Hann vinnur nú að ritun enn einnar bókar um keltneska kristni og er virkur í að marka nýjar pílagrímaleiðir um Skotland.
Skálholtsfélagið og Pílagrímafélagið
Nánar um Ian Bradley:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/rt/staff/icb/
http://impact.ref.ac.uk/CaseStudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=35317
Meðfylgjandi er grein í The Times frá 6. ágúst 2016 eftir Ian Bradley:
The 298 km Cross Scotland Pilgrim Way, starting from Iona in the west, will go through the isle and finish at St Andrews in the east
Scotland strides on with creation of a Caledonian camino
Development of five new pilgrimage routes will allow a modern generation to walk in the footsteps of great Celtic saints, Ian Bradley writes
“Growing interest and participation in pilgrimage has been one of the most striking features of the spiritual landscape of Europe over recent decades. Overcoming any lingering Presbyterian disapproval of Roman Catholic practices of the Middle Ages, Scotland is in the vanguard of this movement with more new pilgrim routes being created than in any other part of the UK.
Initiatives there have been stimulated by a combination of local enthusiasm, support from the Scottish government and local authorities to promote health and economic regeneration, a revived interest in local saints, and the efforts of the Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum (SPRF).
Five Pilgrim Way walking routes are under development. The most ambitious will cross Scotland from west to east linking two of its most iconic religious sites and places of medieval pilgrimage, Iona and St Andrews. It was first proposed by Roseanna Cunningham, an SNP MSP. The idea has been taken up by the Scottish government.
While the full 185-mile (298km) Cross-Scotland Pilgrim Way is a long-term priority, sections of it are being developed over the next five years.
Ms Cunningham and a group of walking enthusiasts are driving forward a new long-distance walking route which will form the eastern section between Crieff and St Andrews. This route, to be called the Three Saints Way, commemorates St Fillan, St Kessog and St Serf who have strong connections with Perthshire and Fife.
Other enthusiasts are involved in developing a pilgrim walking route across Mull and through Argyll.
Work on the 70-mile (113km) Fife Pilgrim Way, which will link Culross and North Queensferry on the Firth of Forth with St Andrews, is much more advanced. The project is being led by the Fife Coast & Countryside Trust. The route for walkers and cyclists will take in Dunfermline — site of one of Scotland’s most important medieval abbeys and centre of the cult of St Margaret — and has been largely finalised. Consultation with communities and churches along the route has generated considerable local enthusiasm for a project which will bring economic regeneration to deprived parts of central Fife and see pilgrims once more converging on what was one of Europe’s major pilgrim destinations because of its possession of the supposed relics of the Apostle Andrew.
The 126-mile (204km) Pilgrim Way from Glasgow to Whithorn in the southwest of Scotland has been created by enthusiasts from Paisley Abbey church led by Sylvia Jenks. To mark the abbey’s 850th anniversary in 2013, they organised walks covering each section of a route which they devised using existing footpaths and roads leading to the Priory church at Whithorn, once the site of a major cathedral associated with St Ninian and an important place of pilgrimage since the seventh century.
On the other side of the country, the Forth to Farne Way linking north Berwick to Lindisfarne has been initiated largely by Joanne Evans-Boiten, parish minister of Whitekirk, which first became a major centre of pilgrimage in the 1300s after miracles were reported by people drinking at a nearby holy well dedicated to St Baldred. In 1413 more than 15,000 pilgrims were recorded as visiting the well, and in 1430 King James I oversaw the building of a pilgrim hostel in the village. The Forth to Farne Way will join up with two existing long-distance pilgrimage walking routes, St Cuthbert’s Way between Melrose and Lindisfarne following in the footsteps of the seventh-century Celtic saint, Cuthbert, and St Oswald’s Way which goes from Lindisfarne to Heavenfield where the saintly King Oswald defeated the pagan Mercians in battle in 633 and restored Northumbria to Christianity.
The most northerly of the new pilgrimage routes uses an existing long-distance trail, the 39-mile (64km) Deeside Way which follows the line of the old railway track between Aberdeen and Ballater. David Atkinson, a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, has led several pilgrimage walks along this route. “We develop our understanding and appreciation of life and its mysteries through conversation with others on the journey,” he says.
Atkinson is chairman of the SPRF, which was established in 2012 to bring together organisations and individuals committed to the promotion of pilgrim walking routes across Scotland. The forum has tapped into growing public interest in healthy living and outdoor exercise linked to personal spirituality and environmental stewardship of the planet. It has close ties with the Green Pilgrimage Network which links 28 pilgrimage destinations of all faiths across the world committed to demonstrating care for the natural environment. Two Scottish destinations, Luss Church on the shores of Loch Lomond and Iona Abbey, are now recognised as “green pilgrimage” sites along with Canterbury, Norwich and St Albans cathedrals in England.
SPRF is putting Scotland firmly on the growing pilgrimage map of Europe by establishing the priority Pilgrim Way walking routes, backed by an accreditation scheme, websites, smartphone apps and “pilgrim passports”. The forum is seeking £120,000 over the next five years to develop the routes with signposting. In areas where new footpaths will have to be created, landowners’ consent will need to be obtained and the forum will work with local authorities on a maintenance plan.
Nick Cooke, secretary of SPRF, says that Scotland is the only part of the UK to have a forum dedicated to national development of pilgrimage routes. “Involving local people in establishing routes and support services has worked well elsewhere. Creating a network of bodies lies at the heart of our progress so far, but we still have much to do.”
The Very Rev Dr Ian Bradley is principal of St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews
Nánar um SPRF, skosku pílagrímaleiðirnar: