“Walking the Streets of San Bernardino with the Traveling Chaplain: Remembering the Forgotten.”

Reflecting on San Bernardino’s recent history, its current issues such as the growing unhoused population and the realities of living on the streets – this paper discusses walking methodologies as a way to explore social, religious, spiritual and theological subjects in conversation with street life. Can walks and conversations with a street minister serving the unhoused population provide an entry into a further study of urban religion, lived religion, lived theology in close proximity to the streets? The paths and places that we walked were selected by both researcher and community leader, which in turn allowed the church leader to also direct the walk, experiences, and topics we explored. With walking methods in view, this paper suggests how scholars and community members can together explore religion as it exists in city streets, how religion and the city problems interact, bring attention to problems in the city, and remember the forgotten.