My (Contemplative) Backcountry Camping Reading List

by. Fr. Joash Thomans

Spiritual pilgrimages are important. Over the past 4 years, I’ve intentionally undertaken annual summer pilgrimages to European, medieval-era cathedrals - something that has allowed me to visit and pray in some of the largest and oldest European cathedrals from Switzerland to Germany to Luxembourg to France to Belgium to the Netherlands to my most recent trip to the United Kingdom just a couple of weeks ago.

During these pilgrimages, I intentionally spend time wrestling with where I am and how the history of colonialism has shaped that place. As much as I enjoy the architectural beauty of these medieval-era European cathedrals, I also try to wrestle with the fact that many of these cathedrals were built with stolen wealth via the western church’s participation in the colonial project.

As I’ve expanded my imagination of Christ and his divine revelation in all of creation, I’m starting to embrace a newer kind of spiritual pilgrimage - extended trips out across what ancient Celtic Christians called ‘the big book’: Creation.

I just got back from my first-ever backcountry camping trip where I did some of the most intensive contemplative reading I’ve done in a while. Even as I encountered Christ in the wilderness of Northern Ontario over the past 4 days, I couldn’t help but be grateful for the dispossessed indigenous neighbours who took good care of these forest lands by intentionally protecting the ‘old growth’ here for thousands of years; until colonial powers showed up a few hundred years ago to steal their land and exploit its resources (including through widespread industrial logging) to boost the ‘economic growth’ of European nations far, far away (along with its colonial settlers on these lands) - much like ancient Celtic Christians who were also colonized under the Roman Empire; leading to a clash of two Christianities (much like my own ancient, precolonial St. Thomas Indian Christian ancestors and their clash with European colonial empires and their missionaries).

As I breathed in the fresh air of this Northern Ontario provincial park, these words of an ancient Celtic Church father hit hard:

Look at the animals roaming the forest: God’s spirit dwells within them. 

Look at the birds flying across the sky: God’s spirit dwells within them. 

Look at the tiny insects crawling in the grass: God’s spirit dwells within them.

Look at the fish in the river and sea: God’s spirit dwells within them.

There is no creature on earth in whom God is absent…When God pronounced that his creation was good, it was not only that his hand had fashioned every creature; it was that his breath had brought every creature to life.

Look too at the great trees of the forest; look at the wild flowers and the grass in the fields; look even at your crops. God’s spirit is present within all plants as well.

The presence of God’s spirit in all living things is what makes them beautiful; and if we look with God’s eyes, nothing on the earth is ugly.

If you find yourself completely thrown off by the mystical theology of ancient Celtic Christians like this, you’ll want to read Part 3 of my Augustine vs. Celtic Christianity series on Substack to get a better sense of where these ancient, precolonial Christians were coming from.

I read a variety of books on this camping trip - ranging from a book I’ve selected as a key textbook for my ‘Kenotic & Decolonized Leadership’ class for St. Stephen’s University’s MA (and Certificate) in Transformative Leadership Program this Fall to a book on Celtic Christian Spirituality (which includes the beautiful reflection above) to a history book on the American Empire’s ideologically and greed-fueled humanitarian war crimes (murdering millions in the Global South) to even a Liberation & Womanist Psychology book.

But before I share this reading list with you – a quick plug for the beloved institution that you and I share in common:

These past few months getting to know the St. Stephen’s University (SSU) community as a member of our leadership and faculty team has been absolutely beautiful. Truth be told – it’s even been healing. It’s rare to come across institutions focused on ‘the Jesus Way’ who take justice and peace-making seriously – both through our programs (which have resulted in empowering some of my favourite peacemakers – SSU students and alumni like you!) and through our internal staff culture.

As an SSU alumni, you are a direct beneficiary of the work we do at SSU – preparing people, through academic, personal, and spiritual development, for a life of justice, beauty, and compassion, enabling a humble, creative engagement with their world. You know what our work has meant for you. And no one else knows more about how critical SSU’s work is in the church and world right now – especially as we make exciting new additions to our academic programs and student & staff community in the days ahead.

This is exactly why I would like to invite you to join me as a monthly SSU Bridgebuilder at whatever level of generosity you’re able to engage in! SSU Bridgebuilders give $25 CAD / $30 USD (or whatever you’re able to give) every month to continue sustaining our work of raising the current and next generation of peacemakers. And the world could sure use more peacemakers like you right now!

But here’s another exciting reason why you should join us as an SSU Bridgebuilder today! One of our most generous donors, Andre Agassi (yes, the world famous Tennis player!) has offered to match every single donation you give to SSU this calendar year. Here’s what this means:

If you sign up at $25 / month, that becomes $50 / month; $50 / month becomes $100 / month; and $250 / month becomes $500 / month! So take advantage of this rare matching opportunity and join us as an SSU Bridgebuilder by signing up here today!

Without further ado, here’s my Backcountry Camping Reading List for this Summer:

1. Enough is Enough: Degrowth, Capitalism and Liberation Theology by Matthew Bernico & Dean Dettloff

   
   

   This is going to be a key textbook for my Kenotic & Decolonized Leadership class at St. Stephen’s University’s MA in Transformative Leadership Program this Fall! What I love about this book is how its authors (a Scotsman and a Canadian) center the voices of Global South Church leaders such as Pope Francis’ Laudato Si encyclical on ecological justice to the voices of Global South Catholic bishops to even an interview with Leonardo Boff, a legendary Brazilian liberation theologian. In an Empire-shaped world that idolizes infinite growth, the authors invite readers to critically examine how capitalistic greed is directly causing permanent ecological damage; while inviting the western church into a focus on Degrowth - a concept I’ll be unpacking in my class this Fall. 

   
   

   PS: The authors of this book run an incredible podcast called ‘Magnificast’. Highly, highly, highly recommend this book!

   
   

2. Listening to the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality by J. Philip Newell

   
   

   J. Philip Newell is the author of Christ of the Celts, an incredible book I’m having my Jesus, Justice & Empire summer school class students at St. Stephen’s University currently read. This particular book does a historical and biographical deep-dive on the key teachers of the Celtic Christian tradition – from (the wildly misrepresented) Pelagius of Wales to John Eriugena to George MacDonald to George Macleod and others. There’s so much ancient, precolonial, indigenous wisdom in this book and it’s excellent reading for any camping / outdoor reading you may do this summer.

   
   

3. The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade & the Mass Murder Program that Shaped our World by Vincent Bevins

   
   

   This is a challenging read - mostly because it contains historically verifiable shenanigans of the American Empire in its efforts to maintain a global, capitalistic world order across the Global South during the post-World War 2 / Cold War era – a hegemony that ultimately benefits western empires in a post-World War 2 world after the collapse of many of these empires across the Global South. From orchestrating vampire-styled tortures & deaths in the Philippines to dropping more bombs in North Korea during the Korean War than in the entire Pacific Theater in World War 2 to toppling democratically elected governments in Iran and Guatemala under the pretext of “fighting communism” while ensuring continued access to natural resources in these countries for western empires, this book will shatter and broaden your imagination of how peoples across the Global South have experienced the boot of the American Empire.

   
   

4. Matters of the Heart: Healing Your Relationship with Yourself And Those You Love by Dr. Thema Bryant

Dr. Bryant is an ordained minister, the former President of the American Psychological Association, and a Liberation & Womanist Psychologist. I got to meet her in Savannah, Georgia at a retreat for a group of justice-oriented Christian thought leaders in the digital space and I’ve been really appreciating her voice and friendship ever since. Reading this book feels like a beautiful combination of intensely healing church and therapy - two things people rarely see as synchronized.

5. Catching Hope: The Hidden Spiritual Wisdom of Fishing by Fr Pete the Wilderness Priest.

Fr. Pete is one of my favourite internet friends and Episcopal priests. Just like Fr. Pete, this book is full of ‘big book’ Jesus wisdom - from an ancient, sacramental perspective in a modern world that increasingly restricts access to creation. Even if you’re not into fishing, you will glean a ton of good wisdom from this book - especially through Fr. Pete’s captivating storytelling. Buy this book, give it a read and then subscribe to Fr. Pete’s Substack.

Happy contemplative camping!

PS: I’ll close with a joy-filled picture of myself with my expert backcountry camping navigator, my Spiritual Director-gardener fiancée who teaches me so much about seeing Christ in his ‘big book’ (Creation).

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Fr. Joash P. Thomas serves as Director of Fundraising & Advancement and Instructor in Public Theology, Peace & Justice at SSU. He’s a Priest, Public Theologian, and author of the #1 Liberation Theology bestseller, The Justice of Jesus. You can connect with Fr. Joash at jthomas@ssu.ca or Instagram / Substack (@JoashPThomas). He lives in the beautiful Southern Ontario (Canada) countryside town of Elora and frequently travels across the world to speak, teach & minister as an itinerant / missional Priest.