S3:E4 Dual Pilgrimage: Camino de Santiago & Japan's Kumano Kodo

Drawing on their experiences from walking both the Camino de Santiago and the Kumano Kodo, Dr. Michelle Oing, Ph.D. and Dr. Christian Greer, Ph.D. discuss the contrast of these two UNESCO pilgrimage routes for pilgrims and look ahead to how pilgrimage may play a deeper role culturally in the years ahead.

DISCUSSIONS FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Sacred Steps Podcast
• Leave a Voice Message for the Podcast
• BOOK: Kumano Kodo: Pilgrimage to Powerspots | Amazon.com
• WWW: Dr. Michelle Oing, Ph.D.
• WWW: Dr. Christian Greer, Ph.D.
• SCHOLARLY PAPERS: Dr. Christian Greer, Ph.D.
• SCHOLARLY PAPERS: Dr. Michelle Oing, Ph.D.
• YOUTUBE: Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW ONLINE:

• Podcast Homepage - sacredstepspodcast.com
• Sacred Steps: A Pilgrimage Journal
• Stream the Video Podcast on YouTube 
• Connect on Facebook
• View on Instagram

MEET OUR GUEST:   Dr. Michelle Oing, Ph.D.

Michelle K. Oing is a scholar of late medieval art and architecture, focusing on the intersection of sculpture and performance in Catholic Europe. She received her PhD in the History of Art and Architecture in 2020 from Yale University and is currently a Postdoctoral Mellon Fellow at Stanford's Center for the Humanities. Her current project examines the role of moveable sculpture in Northern Europe through the conceptual framework of puppetry, paying particular attention to notions of play and discovery. Bringing together insights from art history and performance studies, Dr. Oing's work seeks to highlight the dynamic interaction of humans and objects in the creation of meaning.

MEET OUR GUEST:   Dr. Christian Greer, Ph.D.

Dr. J. Christian Greer is a scholar of Religious Studies and American culture, who specializes in psychedelic religion and spirituality. In addition to earning a BA (summa cum laude) from Boston University and an MDiv at Harvard Divinity School, he received his MA and Ph.D. (cum laude) in Western esotericism from the History of Hermetic Philosophy department at the University of Amsterdam. While a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Divinity School, he led a series of research seminars on psychedelic culture, which culminated in the creation of the *Harvard Psychedelic Walking Tour,* a free audio guide detailing how the Harvard community has shaped the modern history of psychedelic culture. His research addresses popular culture & religion, radical politics & religious activism, esotericism and occultism, ecological spiritualities, pilgrimage, countercultures and subcultures, and drugs & religion.

His latest book, *Kumano Kodo: Pilgrimage to Powerspots* (co-authored with Dr. Michelle Oing) analyzes the pilgrimage folklore associated with the rainforests of Japan's Kii Peninsula.

MEET THE HOST:  Kevin Donahue

Husband. Father. Backpacker. Pilgrim. Author