The Significance of Holy Land Pilgrimage for Anglican Clergy: an Anthropological Investigation

The Significance of Holy Land Pilgrimage for Anglican Clergy: An Anthropological Investigation Robert John Llewelyn A thesis submitted to Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education . In accordance with the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities March 2001 This thesis is dedicated to my children Benjamin, Rebekah and Huw, Each ofwhom has made their own journey. Acknowledgements Grateful acknowledgements are due to Ros Jennings for her resolute encouragement and skill in steering me to the concluding of this thesis. I would thank too Tony Rosie and John Eade for their initial encouragement and ongoing advice. The college and staff of CGCHE have provided a happy environment in which to pursue the research journey. The regular support of several peer research colleagues was a constant source of cheer, especially in more gloomy moments. lowe a great deal to Billie, my wife, not only for her unstinting encouragement but also for the insights which her own academic studies in the field of psychotherapy have constantly afforded. I am grateful to the directors and staff of McCabe Pilgrimages without whose ready willingness to embrace my field research this study would not have been possible. I must warmly thank the clergy pilgrims who were the subjects of my investigation, especially those six who were my main informants on the pilgrimage tour and subsequently in their own homes. I am grateful, too, to the leader of my main field study pilgrimage group for his ready acceptance of my presence in the party. Finally my relieved thanks go to Karin Cramer-Williams for her essential part in bringing this finished document to fruition. The Significance of Holy Land Pilgrimage for Anglican Clergy: An Anthropological Investigation Robert John Llewelyn Abstract This study aims to investigate the reactions of a group of Anglican clergy who visited the Holy land on pilgrimage in January 1995. The academic discipline is anthropological. The study employs qualitative methods of a multiple nature. Participant observation is the basis of the fieldwork. A symbolic interactionist approach forms the basis of the data analysis. A pilot study with a similar group twelve months previously laid the methodological basis for the multi-method enquiry. This was based further on my own experience over several years in leading pilgrimage parties to the Holy Land and other European pilgrimage sites. Particularly I had for twelve years led clergy parties of the sort which I accompanied in 1995. Participant observation and in-depth interviews with six main informants formed the basis of the study. Informal interviews provided further valuable data material. Further interviews afterwards at home with the main informants enabled me to gauge the ongoing impact of the pilgrimage on their lives and ministries. I review the anthropological literature on tourism, where relevant, and fully on pilgrimage. The seminal works of Victor Turner and his theories of • communitas form a core discussion as the particular \finaVliminoid status of the clergy has special significance in relation to Turner's understanding of structure and anti-structure. The work of John Eade and Michael Sallnow is also central to the discussion ofthls thesis in their triad notion of person, place and text as underpinning the potency of the pilgrimage experience These ideas of communitas and the triad of person, place and text form substantive themes which are emically tested in the data analysis. Other themes in the data were mostly generated from the actual perceptions of the clergy pilgrims. The originality of this research is twofold. There is no previous methodological template for an ethnographic study of a group of pilgrims in any setting. As far as the Holy Land is concerned this is the first study of the impact of a pilgrimage tour there on individuals, and of clergy in particular. It also breaks new ground in being an ethnographic study of any aspect of clergy life. Declaration I declare that the work in this thesis was carried out in accordance with the regulations of Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education and is original except where indicated by specific reference in the text. No part of the thesis has been submitted as any part of any other academic award. The thesis has not been presented to any other education institution in the United Kingdom or overseas. Any views expressed in the thesis are those of the author and in no way represent those of the college. Signature .. Coptents Personal Preface 1 Chapter One: Developing a Research Agenda in the Context of Christian Concepts of Pilgrimage 9 1.1 Starting out: Establishing a Research Area 9 1.2 Establishing Context: Theological Concepts of Christian Pilgrimage - an Overview 12 1.2.1 Orthodox Theology of Pilgrimage 15 1.2.2 Roman Catholic Theology of Pilgrimage 17 1.2.3 Anglican Attitudes to Pilgrimage: The Post -reformation context 19 1.2.4 Anglican Clergy Attitudes to Pilgrimage 20 1.2.5 Diversity of Anglican Belief and Practice 23 1.2.6 The Clergy and Pilgrimage: A personal Reflection 26 Chapter Two: Establishing the Conceptual Influences of the Study: Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Pilgrimage 34 2.1 Developing the Notion ofCommunitas: The Work of Victor Turner 35 2.1.1 Communitas 39 2.1.2 Communitas and Flow 41 2.1.3 Types of Communitas 44 2.2 Pilgrimage and the Role of the Ludic 47 2.3 Person, Place and Text SO 2.4 Recent Studies of the Camino 52 2.5 The Eternal Return: The Holy Land as Centre for Pilgrimage 54 2.5.1 The Power of the Shrine 57 2.5.2. Topography of the Pilgrimage 63 2.5.3. Puritan and Anti-Puritan Attitudes 65 Chapter Three: Contemporary Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Context of Tourism 67 3.1 The Anthropology of Tourism 67 3.1.1 The Concept of Rites of Passage 69 3.1.2 Staged Authenticity 71 3.1.3 Tourist Motivations 72 3.1.4 Alternative Tourism 74 3.2 Tourism and Pilgrimage: The Centre Out There 75 3.2.1 Some Distinctions between Tourists and Pilgrims 78 3.2.2 Secular Pilgrimage 79 3.2.3 Returning Home 81 Chapter Four: Designing a Qualitative Research Project: Methodological Influences 85 4.1 The Uneven Research Journey so far 85 4.2 The Role of the Researcher 87 4.2.1 Reflexivity 90 4.3 . Some Ethical Considerations 93 4.4 Symbolic Interaction ism 103 4.5 Presenting the new ground of this research 109 Chapter Five: Fieldwork 114 5.1 Introduction: Multiple Methods 114 5.2 Pilot Study 120 5.3 Main Study 135 Chapter Six: Data Analysis: Substantive Themes 154 6.1 Incidences of Communitas 155 6.2 Resonances of person, Place and Text 163 Chapter Seven: Data Analysis: Emergent Themes 188 7.1 Expectations and Apprehensions 190 7.2 Impressions: An Account of the First Morning 202 7.3 Eucharist at the Mount of Beatitudes 220 7.4 Worship and Rituals 231 7.S The Importance of Walking 242 7.6 Reflections on the Role of Guide and Leader 250 7.7 Standing on Holy Ground 258 7.8 Encountering the Middle East: Political and Social Awareness 270 7.9 Ludic Relaxation 278 7.10 Returning Home 284 Chapter Eight: Concluding Remarks 298 Postscript: Helena's Tribute to the Magi 305 Bibliography 306 Appendices Appendix 1 Biographies: Pilot Study 320 Appendix 2 Biographies: Main Study 321 Appendix 3 McCabe Travel: Policies and Practices 322 Itinerary ofthe January 1995 Tour 323 Appendix 4 Maps: Holy Land 325 Jerusalem, The Old City 326 The Mount of Olives 327 The Sea of Galilee 328 Appendix 5 Letters: To all the Clergy Pilgrims, From The Tour Leader 329 From McCabe Travel 330 From R.J. LI. before and subsequent to the 1995 tour 331 --------,------ PERSONAL PREFACE The production of a PhD thesis involves the researcher embarking on a journey. For me, embarking on research for a degree relatively late in life, the intellectual journey has been steep. At all levels, the work that I have undertaken can be conceptualised through the metaphor of the journey. The journey that I will now outline to you has been intellectual, physical, geographical and, because of the subject matter and its deep resonance in my life, spiritual. I first visited the Holy Land in 1977. It might seem inadvisably brazen to begin even a qualitatively based thesis with the 'I' word but, as Peter Woods (1999) indicates, it is now customary, at the very least, for researchers to include some biographical elements. If nothing else, this is usually in recognition of the part that their own personal histories played in the evolution of their research. More recent anthropological and sociological studies have started not just to recognise but also give importance to the voice, or presence, of the researcher as having special methodological significance. This personal preface serves several purposes. At the most basic level, it gives a straightforward account of my own evolution as an amateur anthropologist enquiring into clergy pilgrimage in the Holy Land. On other levels it reveals much about my own personal intellectual journey, about my research as, in many ways, an act of pilgrimage in itself and at another level still, it foregrounds my research as not just a personal project but one located within 1 the paradigms of anthropological, or more especially, ethnographic types of enqwry. My first visit to the Holy Land was as a member of a PaJ"o/, which consisted mostly of, lay people. It was led by an Anglican priest with considerable experience of leading pilgrimage groups. At the time I had no idea that over the next twenty years I would regularly be revisiting Israel and even lead parties myself.

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