Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture-2

One of my favorite readings for a class (other than those for Sacred Communication, of course) was Martin Luther’s Three Treatises. In the second treatise, Luther discusses Christian sacraments (everything was “Catholic” at this point). In his paper, he refutes all of the sacraments but communion and baptism. Reading throughout, it becomes clear to me that Luther isn’t just a ‘negative nancy,’ but that he was genuinely upset about the established church.

One of Luther’s indictments of the church was actually directed specifically at Pilgrimage. It’s interesting to read from Turners’ book, as their assessment of pilgrimage has similar criticisms in different language. Luther says “the nearer rome, the worse Christians.” Perhaps Rome’s complete dependency on structure and the profane aspects of life are reasons for criticism. Likewise Turner says “a pilgrim is one who divests himself of the mundane concomitants of religion” (119). These are both in line with what we can consider as an ‘effective’ pilgrimage, which is one which is devoid of the profane. I will have to search more to find what I consider the best route to rid myself of the profane.