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.

Introduction, Antón M. Pazos; Chapter 1 A Higher Purpose, Michael A. Di Giovine; Chapter 2 Jewish Pilgrimage and Peace, Norman Solomon; Chapter 3 Pilgrimages, Yehoshua Frenkel; Chapter 4 Green Pilgrimage, Adrian Ivakhiv; Chapter 5 Identitarian Pilgrimage and Multicultural Society, John Eade; Chapter 6 Christian Pilgrimages in Muslim Lands, Henri Teissier; Chapter 7 Muslim Shrines and Multi-Religious Visitations in Hindus' City of Banaras, India, Rana P.B. Singh; Chapter 8 Sacred Places and Pilgrimages, Margarita Karamihova; Chapter 9 Pilgrimage Sites in the Holy Land, Noga Collins-Kreiner, Deborah Shmueli, Michal Ben-Gal; Chapter 10 'The Mainstay of My Kingdom', Carlos Baliñas Pérez; Chapter 11 Patterns of War and Peace in the Latin East, John France; Chapter 12 The Knights of Marmelar, Paula Pinto Costa, Maria Cristina Pimenta; Chapter 13 Pilgrimage in Modern Spain, José Andrés-Gallego; Epilogue, Simon Coleman;