The Autumn 2020 issue of the Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal is now available, and its main theme is pilgrimage.

Two years ago, the College of Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church designated 2021 a Year of Provincial Pilgrimage. although the concept will now require a slight revision following the restrictions placed on our lives by coronavirus. The Rt Revd Anne Dyer, Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, who is the lead bishop in this initiative, said at the time of the announcement: “In this designated year of pilgrimage we will be encouraging as many people as possible to make a holy journey of some kind. This can include taking part in an organised pilgrimage or spending time individually or in groups simply focusing on our own spiritual journeys.”

Whatever the effect of coronoavirus restrictions on the Year of Provincial Pilgrimage, this issue of the Journal is conceived as a resource for all who consider pilgrimage in one way or another.

The Journal includes papers from a Conference at the Church of St Margaret of Scotland, Aberdeen, in September 2018, organised by the Church in Society Committee of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The aims of the Conference were to review the history of pilgrimage in the northern part of Scotland, to assess its contribution to Scottish heritage and culture, and to look ahead to how it might continue to contribute to the development and maintenance of Christianity in Scotland. To those papers — originally presented by David Atkinson, Emsley Nimmo, John MacFarlane, Stuart Little, Nick Cooke, Alasdair Coles, Richard Murray and Wendy Lloyd — this issue adds a paper by Richard Tiplady who considers the blessings of mountain pilgrimages.

The Journal hopes to continue to publish on the topic of pilgrimage in its Winter 2020 issue and throughout 2021. It also hopes, in addition to its Summer 2020 issue, to continue to be a resource regarding church, ministry and the coronavirus. To that end, this issue concludes with an article by Rafael Vilaça Epifany Costa, of the Anglican Church of Brazil, regarding online councils and new ways of church practice in these challenging times.

The Autumn 2020 edition is available here.