朝圣者的奖赏
即使在退休后，现代语言名誉教授乔治·d·格林尼亚（George D. Greenia）也过着一种游移和有目的的生活。去年，他在多所大学（耶鲁大学、斯坦福大学、德克萨斯理工大学、乔治城大学、加州州立大学弗雷斯诺分校等）做过演讲；在伦敦和英国的达勒姆；北卡罗来纳州的阿什维尔；贝尔格莱德和都柏林，今年秋天，他将为史密森学会（Smithsonian Institution）在西班牙领导一次朝圣之旅。
在这些旅程中，他将前往墨西哥，为他已经广泛的履历增添另一项荣誉。格林尼亚被选为2019年加利西亚国际孔波斯特拉-勋塔奖的获得者。
The Compostela Group (CGU) is one of the world’s largest non-profit consortia of higher education institutions. Created in 1993 by a group of European universities, the CGU currently brings together more than 70 members on four continents. Its mission is to facilitate cooperation among universities to preserve historical and cultural heritage.
In cooperation with the Xunta de Galicia (Galicia’s Department of Culture, Social Communication and Tourism), CGU awards an annual prize to a European individual or group who has made a major contribution to European values in the educational, cultural or social fields.
The CGU honors Greenia for his “prolific academic trajectory, connection with Galicia and contribution to the dissemination of the Jacobean phenomenon.”
The award ceremony will take place June 4, 2019, during the 25th General Assembly of the Compostela Group of Universities, at the University of Guadalajara. At the ceremony, Greenia will receive a golden shell, the symbol of the Compostela Group, and a cash award that Greenia will donate to William & 玛丽’s Institute for Pilgrimage Studies.
Greenia is the first American to receive the honor, and he joins a prestigious circle of winners. Previous honorees include Václav Havel, Czech statesman and writer; Carla del Ponte, General Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and Swiss Attorney-General; and Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor, member of the Polish underground, historian and politician instrumental in Polish-German reconciliation.
Greenia has had a long and successful academic career and is no stranger to awards and honors. He is co-founder of the William & 玛丽 Program in Medieval & Renaissance Studies and founder of its Institute for Pilgrimage Studies. Greenia is an officer of the Alpha Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. For six years, he served on the society’s national senate and executive committee. In 2015, he earned the society’s President’s Award and Judith Krug Medal for distinguished service to PBK on a national level, only the third recipient in the Society’s history.
Fluent in Spanish, French and Latin, he is an authority on medieval material culture, especially its books and written culture, religious traditions, medieval travel and art. Between authored and edited work, he has produced over 30 volumes and some 8,000 pages of published scholarship. Greenia has given hundreds of presentations to academic, religious and civic groups.
An internationally recognized authority on medieval and modern pilgrimage, Greenia has bicycled and walked over 4,000 miles along the pilgrimage trails to Santiago de Compostela and to other sacred and patriotic sites in Europe and the Americas.
In 2007, Greenia was knighted and received the Encomienda of the Order of Isabel the Catholic by order of King Juan Carlos I for promotion of Spanish literature and culture in the United States.
This award from CGU, however, has special significance for Greenia.
“The Compostela Prize strengthens our ability to communicate the importance of Camino de Santiago as a model for other world pilgrimages,” he said. “Much of my research career centers on medieval and modern pilgrimage to the traditional shrine of St. James in Galicia, a trek that figures large in European history as a historic tidal movement of people, ideas and cultures. The modern revival of pilgrim traffic on medieval pathways proves the timeless draw of intentional travel that’s far more values-driven than mere tourism.”
A pilgrimage by nature is intensely personal. “It’s a therapeutic process that’s self-monitored and self-assigned,” Greenia explains. However, for Greenia, the impact and potential of the prize extends beyond himself to his fellow pilgrims and to his institution. He has taken — and continues to take — William & 玛丽 on this journey with him and shares in its successes. “The award means we’re now recognized at a level of international importance.”
Although he has spearheaded pilgrimage studies at William & 玛丽, he is expansive in his praise of his colleagues who have led pilgrimages and put their own “stamp” on the experience.
“We have terrific people making highly original contributions, such as Kevin Vose,”he said, referencing the professor of religious studies who led a study abroad program to Bhutan last summer.
He also praises Matthew Allar (associate professor of theatre/scenographer); Ben Boone (associate director of the Center for Liberal Arts), Jim Barber (associate professor of education); and Kay Jenkins (professor of sociology), just to name a few.
“Going on pilgrimage is the most interdisciplinary thing we do on this campus and the most international thing we do abroad,” Greenia asserts. His students have conversed with fellow pilgrims in English and Spanish, but in French, German, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and even Hebrew.
“The Institute of Pilgrimage Studies now claims the attention of over 25 William & 玛丽 researchers in some 15 disciplines, from legal history, to religious studies, to kinesiology and health sciences,” Greenia boasts. “Our Department of Modern Languages supports our summer study abroad program, and so does our School of Education. Senior researchers participate from within anthropology, art history and even dance and the theater arts.”
“Over half a million people a year are using one of the trails towards Santiago, so we’re talking hundreds of millions of people so far who have done this modern experience,” Greenia continues. “The Institute for Pilgrimage Studies is now the intellectual center for understanding not just the Camino de Santiago, but world pilgrimage. It’s a success story that every university dreams of, and it’s at William & 玛丽.”
The journey to this moment has taken a little more than 20 years.
“我是彼得勒林。”
那是1998年。“我利用研究假期和丈夫一起骑自行车从巴黎到圣地亚哥德孔波斯特拉，探索古老的路线，并与沿途的一些早期旅行者见面。”格林尼亚在路线的起点——巴黎圣母院——出示了第一枚邮票的凭证。“我用法语自我介绍，‘Je suis p
普遍的人类经验
尽管格里尼亚因与西班牙的卡米诺河的联系而获得荣誉，但朝圣活动在世界各地都有，对他来说，每一次都有其独特的重要性和价值。“你去一个对你有意义的地方，你通过去那里确认你的价值观，无论是站在纽约的归零地，沿着华盛顿的越南退伍军人纪念碑走下去，还是沿着地下铁路或眼泪之路的一部分走下去。”“我们研究过的每一种宗教都有某种旅行的精神体验。这是全球性的。”使朝圣成为安全空间的特征之一是匿名和被接受的机会。“朝圣之路是多用途的。人愈合。人债券。人们与他人见面并讲述他们的故事，”格林尼亚解释说。“朝圣者会倾听并理解。”格林尼亚还强调，无论是世俗的还是宗教的，所有传统都有朝觐活动。卡米诺向所有人开放，这是它的优势之一。“它对多种教派和观点都是开放的，在你行走的过程中会形成一种‘共识灵性’。”一路上，Greenia领导并会见来自不同背景的团体。“它对每个人都开放，不管你的宗教传统是什么，或者你根本没有宗教传统。”事实上，他很高兴了解那些不熟悉基督教传统的学生的印象，他们第一次看到、听到、触摸到建筑和仪式，没有任何先入为主的观念或期望。“他们完全客观地目睹了一场新的空间、听觉和视觉编排。”朝圣不是解决所有问题的灵丹妙药或简单答案，但对格林尼亚来说，它确实显示了一条希望之路，以及身体、精神和智力的复兴之路。“朝圣是一种普遍的文化，一种对超越的渴望，一种离开家去寻找自我中心的意愿。那些研究和领导朝圣的人可以成为动荡世界的和平建设者。”
