Robert Lannes: Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture Post #3

    In my reading of, "Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture," I discovered that there are four specific types of pilgrimages.  Two of these apply to all of the historical religions.  The first is prototypal pilgrimages, which not the authority of documentary or widespread traditional evidence, were established by the founder of a historical religion, by his first decibels, or by important national evangelists of his faith.  The second is archaic pilgrimages, which bear quite evident traces of syncretism with older religious beliefs and symbols.  The second two, are within the Christian tradition.  The third is called medieval pilgrimages, which are pilgrimages that originated roughly in the period AD 500-1400.  The fourth is called modern pilgrimage, which has grown in popularity in the past few centuries, in drawing upon it as a source of instrumental aids, and and negatively, in seeing it as a challenge to the Christain, and indeed to the entire religious world view.  I have never experienced a pilgrimage, but if I was to experience one, it would be the fourth.  Just the experience of only having a back pack with the necessary supplies sounds like an awesome experience.  Maybe one day, I could get a group of my friends to go on a pilgrimage with me, possibly to the Holy Land, so I can experience this.