Journey or Destination? Rethinking Pilgrimage in the Western Tradition

Bibliographic Data

ID3499482
AuthorsAnne E Bailey (0000-0001-7326-7150, University of Oxford, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume14
Issue9
Pages1157
Publication date2023-09-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel14091157
OpenAlexW4386615083
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited32

Pilgrimage is undergoing a revival in western Europe, mainly as newly established or revitalised pilgrim routes, such as the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. These trails have helped to foster the widespread idea that pilgrimage is essentially a journey: a spiritual or "meaningful" journey undertaken slowly, and preferably on foot, in the medieval tradition. The purpose of this article is to problematise this journey-oriented understanding of pilgrimage in Christian and post-Christian societies and to suggest that the importance given to the pilgrimage journey by many scholars, and by wider society, is more a product of modern Western values and post-Reformation culture than a reflection of historical and current-day religious practices. Drawing on evidence from a range of contemporary sources, it shows that many medieval pilgrims understood pilgrimage as a destination-based activity as is still the case at numerous Roman Catholic shrines today

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Pilgrim · Pilgrimage · History · Religious Tourism and Spaces · Travel Writing and Literature