Ogilbee, Mark

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Ogilbee, Mark

PERSONAL:

Education: Princeton Theological Seminary, M.Div.

ADDRESSES:

Home—VT. Office—SkyLight Paths Publishing, Sunset Farm Offices, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, VT 05091.

CAREER:

SkyLight Paths Publishing, Woodstock, VT, project editor.

WRITINGS:

(With Jana Riess) American Pilgrimage: Eleven Sacred Journeys and Spiritual Destinations, Paraclete Press (Brewster, MA), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mark Ogilbee wrote his first book, American Pilgrimage: Eleven Sacred Journeys and Spiritual Destinations, with Jana Riess. The authors discuss the fundamental nature of pilgrimages, from the private to public types. They also write about a variety of pilgrimages, from those that require long-distance journeys to those that can take place in a nearby park or in the privacy of a person's own backyard. For the most part, Ogilbee and Riess focus on the American religious experience as they describe sites of pilgrimages for people of different faiths and beliefs. The pilgrimage sites that they visit and describe range from the typically religious, such as Mission San Juan Capistrano in California, to "new age" sites, such as Sedona, Arizona, to cultural pilgrimage sites, such as Elvis Presley's Graceland. In their final analysis, the authors present the pilgrimage as a means of personal transformation brought about by self-reflection and the gaining of a new understanding about yourself and the world around you. "Those drawn to armchair travel laced with spirituality will savor this modest book," wrote June Sawyers in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly contributor observed: "The authors' cross-country excursions yield colorful descriptions and keen observations." The reviewer added that the authors "wisely recognize … [the importance of] the psychology of taking the journey."