Father Brad Karelius’s vocational path did not protect him from the trials and tragedies inherent in human life. When his teenaged son began suffering from seizures, the Episcopal parish priest sought strength and solace in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada’s Owens Valley. The primitive, ancient beauty of the desert provided Father Karelius with a sense of connection to God that his work in an Orange County Latino barrio could not. Over the years, he has made regular pilgrimages to the area, and in The Spirit in the Desert he invites readers to follow suit. While he acknowledges that different people may seek peace and serenity in different places—by the ocean, during a walk in the rain—Karelius’s deeply personal guidance through his beloved desert makes for an earnest spiritual travelogue.

The Spirit in the Desert: Pilgrimages to Sacred Sites in the Owens Valley

Karelius, Brad

Religion & Spirituality

BookSurge Publishing

A spectacular stretch of earth, the Eastern Sierra region of California reveals volcanic reefs, desert sand dunes, majestic mountains, and snow-fed lakes and rivers. Drawing on forty years of college teaching on the world's religions, Professor Brad Karelius is your guide, uncovering deep spiritual dimensions in this achingly beautiful place. This book shares crystallizations of religious wisdom collected through the ages, and finely tuned descriptions of holy sites, which you may visit, that will draw you deeper in your personal encounters with world spiritualities.

Encounters with the World's Religions: The Numinous on Highway 395

History

Americas

Wipf and Stock

The iconic landscape of the American Southwest reveals the luminescent Mitten rock formations, looming rock arches, and vast sagebrush oceans made vivid and memorable by writer Tony Hillerman, artist Georgia O'Keefe, and director John Ford. Professor Brad Karelius, drawing on forty years of college teaching, will guide you into hidden mysteries of the sacred as revealed by the Zuni, Navajo/Dine, Hopi, Hispanos, and desert mystics as you seek spiritual encounters in these desert spirit places.

Desert Spirit Places: The Sacred Southwest

Resource Publications

Desert Spirit Places

Resource Publications (CA)

Inspired by Richard Rohr, Ronald Rolheiser, Belden Lane, and Thomas Merton,&nbsp;Desert Spirituality for Men&nbsp;reveals the transformative and healing power of the desert--for men who actively seek God. Blending a memoir of his son's fight for life, reflections on his own desert retreats and response to the Lord's persistent desire for relationship, Brad Karelius offers guidance to men in their holy longing for God. An Episcopal priest for fifty years, Professor of Philosophy for forty-five years, husband, and father, Karelius also tells about the power of his friendship with six remarkable men, and he describes some of their well-founded prayer practices which will sustain and nurture any man in his quest.&nbsp;This book will encourage men of all callings and stages in life to plan their own retreats to the desert--where God lives and gives life.

Desert Spirituality for Men