RT Article
T1 Paula and Jerome: towards a theology of Late Antique pilgrimage
JF International journal for the study of the Christian church
VO 18
IS 4
SP 344
OP 353
A1 Bader, Giselle
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1663129703
AB This paper examines Jerome's account of Paula's pilgrimage in 385. Written by a well-known theologian and writer, the account was intended to be read by the wider Christian world. Self-consciously didactic in nature, Jerome portrays Paula as the ideal pilgrim - ascetic, charitable, and with a strict adherence to the scriptures and Church doctrine, rather than local beliefs and practices. Jerome was cautious of pilgrimage's potential to foster the movement of heresies and its draw as a touristic, rather than spiritual, practice. Paula's depiction as the ideal pilgrim reveals the Church's desire to establish a theology of pilgrimage. Jerome did not wish to encourage the practice, but proposed that if one did embark on pilgrimage, encounters with the sacred were not attainable unless the pilgrim first possessed the ideal ascetic character and motivations. Jerome therefore sought to curate the way Christians both practised pilgrimage and subsequently read sacred landscapes.
K1 Bethlehem
K1 Eustochium
K1 Holy Land
K1 Jerusalem
K1 Pilgrimage
K1 St Jerome
K1 St Paula
K1 fourth century
DO 10.1080/1474225X.2018.1535869