Hopeful Imagination – Alistair McIntosh
3 October 2026 @ 3:00 pm - 9 October 2026 @ 9:00 am
We live in times of turmoil – wars, climate change, poverty, the pushing back of democracy. Times where religion itself is being idolatrously abused to serve power, just as Christ himself was tempted: “All these kingdoms can be yours….”
Alice Walker said, “Resistance is the secret of possessing joy.” From where might such joy resurge? The Celtic saints knew. They understood – as do some of today’s great theologians like Walter Wink and Walter Brueggemann – the deep imagination, both our own and that of God.
Through talks, walks and a shared common life this week Alastair McIntosh will explore the imagination and action across three themes. Re-membering what has been dismembered, what has brought us both individually and collectively to where we are now. Re-visioning how spiritual hope can renew our lives and the world. And Re-claiming spiritual skills, especially those of prophetic vision, action and discernment.
Like the nuns and monks of St Coumba’s time, what might we learn from a week in community with one another, with God and with nature? What might we take back out to the world, perhaps in “new ways found to touch the hearts of all”?
We’ll explore through talks from Alistair, and walks, and sharing in the common life at Iona Abbey. Delight!
Background reading:
Walter Brueggemann, Hopeful Imagination
Alastair McIntosh, Poacher’s Pilgrimage
Alice Walker, Revolutionary Petunias and Horses Make a Landscape Look more Beautiful (poetry)
Programme leader
Alastair McIntosh is a human ecologist and Quaker from the Isle of Lewis, a trustee of the GalGael Trust in Govan, and an honorary professor at Glasgow University. His books include Soil and Soul, Poacher’s Pilgrimage and Spiritual Activism.
Costs
6 Nights: £870 or £435 concession
USA North East