Shirley Du Boulay's Winchester-to-Canterbury pilgrimage is the subject of her informative book, Road to Canterbury, which I found full of entertaining anecdotes and fascinating historical details, as well as being spiritually inspiring. Du Boulay's is a spiritual experience. During her 150 miles of travel (including getting lost), du Boulay considers whether it is the arrival or the journey that is most important. She relates the historical and cultural significance of landmarks and towns, churches and their namesakes across Hampshire, Surrey, and Kent as she follows the ancient Pilgrim's Way to St. Thomas a Becket's shrine in Canterbury Cathedral. And of course she tells the story of Becket's death at the hands of Henry II's knights. Time seems to take on a new dimension, becoming fluid as Du Boulay slips back and forth between descriptions and anecdotes of ancient Neolithic cultures, the Romans, mediaeval, and later peoples. Importantly, all somehow meld together and are united. At times frustrated, hungry, wet, or suffering back pain, du Boulay's almost two-week journey is a parallel of life, as she feels tempted to give up, or resists the urge to take a taxi or other short cut; she keeps walking. What does du Boulay learn? On reaching her goal, she finds "It did not matter that I had no great thoughts. For the moment gratitude was enough" (228). Even so, she wonders whether life will "ever be quite the same again?" (229). I, for one, suspect life will be different. An informative work that is both inspiring and entertaining

In our commercialized society, where obligatory pilgrimages are only made to Disney World or Graceland, the idea of making a trip--especially a slow, difficult one--to a religious site is truly counter-cultural. This journey, taken during a painful period of transition (widowhood) in the author's life, covers physical and spiritual ground one patient step at a time. The author at times seems a latter-day John Bunyan: we learn that there is as much signficiance to the pilgrimage walk as there is to the arrival. Cannot be recommended enough for sincere people of faith, especially those in the English traditions of Catholicism, Anglicanism/Episcopalianism, or Methodism.

While vastly inferior to Bede's own writings about his life ("The Golden String" especially), this book gives a great account of Bede's development from his formative years at Eastington, where he engaged in a Waldenesque experiment in "simple living" (which left a lasting mark upon him) to his nearly forty years in his ashram in India. Bede shows himself to be a genuinely ecumenical man, taking a wealth of ideas and concepts from all religious traditions that he comes into conduct with (but especially the Hindoo faiths). A man years ahead of his time, he would most probably had been excommunicated if many of his ideas had received more attention in the Roman church. He was in favour of radical reform of the Catholic Church, which he had began to think was outdated and did not speak to people in the way that it once did -- and that if it did not change its approach to speak to people in this modern day, that it would eventaully cease to be of relevance altogether. He was in favour of a married clergy and denied that the pope should be the head of the whole church, but that this was a corruption of the original church which had the pope of Rome as merely the "first among equals" -- a position that he was supposed to share equally with various other bishops throughout Christendom. His theology tended to be on the mystical side, which, to me, makes much more sense than the Biblical literalism that is sweeping the world today. He was also of the opinion that Jesus' message was at odds with the Old Testament, but that it agreed in all its essentials with the teachings of the Gita. His embracing of the similarities of Christianity and Hinduism was particularly impressive, especially in this day of finger-waggling evangelistic denominationalists who assure us that only they can be right. Bede always kept an open mind and was a seeker until the very end. He never stopped growing and learning -- something that would have been impossible if he had closed his mind to any other opinions other than his own. He is an example of a very, very rare type of individual. A wonderful look at an amazing human being.

Admirers of C. S. Lewis often like to read about his life and to become vicariously acquainted with his friends, too. If you want to know about Lewis as Griffiths' friend, read Griffiths' own autobiography (The Golden String), his contribution to C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table, and The Letters of C. S. Lewis. (It is much to be hoped that all of their correspondence that survives will be published.)

However, admirers of Lewis may be advised that these two men profoundly diverged in their religious thinking. While Lewis was an apologist for orthodox Christianity, Griffiths eventually said he could understand Christ only by means of the Vedanta; that Jesus rejected the God of the Old Testament; that only a bit of St. John's Gospel attained to the insight of Hindu "advaitic" mysticism, etc. For readers whose faith is close to that of Lewis -- who said he was as dualistic as possible within Christian theology, meaning preoccupied with good and evil, and aware of God's warfare with the devil -- this book might have been better titled "Into the Darkness" of spiritual error. The book is readable and informative, presented by a biographer who wishes to promote Griffiths' "deep ecumenism."

Father Bede Griffiths (1906-1993) was an English Benedictine monk who resided in India for nearly four decades. Ms. du Boulay's book is the first major biography written about him since his death, and I, for one, bought it as soon as I could. Her meticulous, though not overwhelming, attention to the many facets of his life provides a fascinating and incredibly balanced perspective of this man of many roles: monk, mystic, writer, lecturer, and leader in Hindu-Christian interreligious dialogue. For all that I admired his embracing warmth and sheer wisdom, it helped to know just how much he had to live through; i.e. she does not shy away from describing with excruciating clarity some of the vicious verbal and written attacks from both Hindu and Christian fundamentalists he endured. My hope is that this very well crafted biography brings the importance of Father Bede's vision and life into the consciousness of many seekers. Highly recommended (along, of course, with his own writings--most of which remain in print).