Pilgrims and Their Progress by Josh Hunt
I have had a question about the origin of modern tourism. It came when I was listening to a history book on Audible. Tom Holland’s book In the Shadow of the Sword recounts the rise of Islam and the world into which it became a geopolitical force. But Holland tells of Christians that had been making pilgrimages centuries before Islam ever entered onto the world stage. He writes of some industry that popped up because of the need travelers (pilgrims) had for food and lodging. My question was; “Did Christianity invent modern tourism?”
I looked up the etymology for “pilgrim” and was interested to find that in Old French it is rendered “peregrin”. Perhaps those who are fans of J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings might recognize the word in the name "Peregrin Took”, or “Pippin”. The word has its origin in meaning “wayfarer, traveler, and foreigner”. My mind makes the jump to thinking about Abraham; “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10).
It should be noted that Christianity did not invent pilgrimage. It seems that travel to sacred sites has existed as long as people have been on Earth as far as I can tell. So what is it that people were hoping to achieve by their travels? The writer of Hebrews tells us Abraham was searching for a city built by God. To go back again to the etymology of pilgrim we have “per” meaning “through” + “ager” meaning “land”. So “through the land” is a fair literal translation, but we have literature such as The Pilgrim’s Progress which suggests we are travelling on a journey of life. The journey of life in search for the City of God seems to be exactly what the author of Hebrews has in mind when referring to Abraham.
Ancient Pilgrimage Routes to Rome and Jeruslaem
So how did we come to think of travel as pleasure and recreation? There is an interesting account of a man named Petrarch who ascended Mt. Ventoux in 1336. It seems that his account is the first we have of someone climbing a mountain and taking in the landscape in some way similar to how we might see it today. Taking in the landscape just for the sake of it being beautiful is something modern man may enjoy, but not something we should assume people of the past did (anyone looking to understand this shift in perspective might look to the “Romanticism” movement in art and literature). From Petrarch’s own account he felt driven to ascend the mountain and felt overwhelmed when the summit was reached. “Shaken by the unaccustomed wind and the wide, freely shifting vistas, I was immediately awestruck. I look; the clouds lay beneath my feet… I look toward Italy, whither turned my soul even more than my gaze, and sigh at the sight of the Italian sky which appeared more to my spirit than my eyes, and I was overcome by an inexpressible longing to return home”. There is some sort of effect on the soul and spirit of Petrarch from his ascent that is informative to us; the sojourner sojourns precisely because some sort of change in the soul is desired. And something to do with the soul’s desire to be where it feels at home is evident in both the story of Abraham and Petrarch’s account.
Mount Ventoux: Provence, France
Modern tourism is often placed as starting in the 1600’s with “The Grand Tour”. Wealthy Europeans would spend a year or two traveling through France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy to educate themselves and experience the culture around Europe and the Mediterranean. The industrial revolution brought faster, easier, and cheaper transportation that allowed people to take day and weekend trips. Now even the lower classes with a livelihood that did not allow for a two year trip could vacation.
I do not think I answered my initial question about Christianity inventing modern tourism, but it seems that it only came out of Christendom. Roughly speaking, it only came about from people in a region that shared a belief that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. I personally find it strange and interesting that Christian Europe would be the place that fostered a break between physical locations and the spiritual truths which make those places matter. Although I say I find it strange, it falls right in line with the work of the influential Reformer- Martin Luther. In Luther’s time there were thousands of relics and some came with claims that most people now would find ridiculous. “Certain men have impudently boasted that they possess a feather from the holy angel St. Michael. The bishop of Mainz claims to have a flame from the bush of Moses. So in Compostella the banner is exhibited that Christ had in hell, and likewise the crown of thorns, the nails, etc., and also some of Mary’s milk” (Martin Luther’s Works, Vol 54.247).
A relic reported to be the crown of thorns worn by Christ: Notre Dame Cathedral, France
The break with the idolatrous attitude towards relics coincides with the modern development of treating locations with a secular romantic attitude. I do not believe this break was wrong, but I wonder if we might learn something from our forbearers about the journey of the human soul. If we take all locations and objects as secular, then we are quite limited in how we experience them. They may end up being nothing more than “pretty’. But if we are able to see past the outward physical appearances then we might find something that nourishes our soul. If we look past the mere historical fact of Israel’s exodus from Egypt then we might experience God’s desire for Man to be free from sin and not just free of physical slavery. Perhaps we might take the flood of Noah’s time to mean that God desires His creation to be cleansed and have rest. And maybe we can learn to experience something from the empty cross that hangs at the front of so many churches- that Christ is alive.