Pilgrimages can be analysed as acts of conflict - such as the Crusades - or also as platforms for relationship building and rapprochement between religions. With a set of contributions from leading experts in the field, this book explores the concept of pilgrimage in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Some specific examples of pilgrimages that helped to strengthen links between different religions or civilisations are explored, ranging from Europe to Asia and from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Even though every pilgrimage that is investigated here has helped to link different worlds, the case studies show that this relationship rarely led to a better in inter-understanding. Nowadays, peaceful coexistence seems to be its greatest achievement.

Pilgrimages can be analysed as acts of conflict - such as the Crusades - or also as platforms for relationship building and rapprochement between religions. With a set of contributions from leading experts in the field, this book explores the concept of pilgrimage in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Some specific examples of pilgrimages that helped to strengthen links between different religions or civilisations are explored, ranging from Europe to Asia and from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.

"...helpfully problematiz[es] the field of pilgrimage study, making it clear that a phenomenon that can easily be privatized and subjected to sentimental reflection demands careful study from a number of different vantage points." -- Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations "The case studies presented here demonstrate the complexity of pilgrimage in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism across time and geographic regions, and illuminate the changing-sometimes peaceful, sometimes conflict-ridden-religious and geographic encounters that pilgrimage has engendered both within and among these faiths...this collection of essays should be of value to anyone with an interest in pilgrimage journeys, particularly within in the three major religions represented here." -- Jill Dubisch, Northern Arizona University in Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing