Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture 1

“in the early stages of a religion’s development, the prototypical shrines tend to predominate. Later, the places where saints and martyrs lived and died may become pilgrim shrines. Later still, places where visions, or apparitions, of the founder and those close to him---or of some manifestation of God or divine power---presented themselves to a believer, may become pilgrim shrines.”
Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture page 34


This quote exemplifies the evolution of religious shrines. First, they start out as physical objects, as the religion itself is most likely very young without much history of it’s own. Then, after events pertaining to the religion have occurred at certain central places, the shrines themselves evolve into sacred places rather than being sacred items. The materialism of the religion disappears and turns into appreciation for the certain place.

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