Pelerinaj versus turism religios. O privire asupra cercetărilor recente
Pilgrimage versus Religious Tourism. A Look at Recent Research

Summary/Abstract: Pilgrimage, a phenomenon with millennial roots, became the subject of scientific research during the 1970s and 1980s in Europe and North America. The profound meaning that Christianity attributed to pilgrimage was that of a journey toward the divine, a path leading to a place of encounter with heavenly landmarks. The pilgrim’s journey strengthens faith and brings spiritual healing, involving devotion and penitence. The blurring of the boundaries between tourist and pilgrim contributes to the symbolic degradation of pilgrimage as both a mindset and a religious reality.Certain sociological, anthropological, psychological, and other analyses attempt to justify the use of the term pilgrimage for all kinds of journeys, including those of a touristic nature. The two forms of travel — one religious and the other recreational — were long regarded as opposites and studied separately. In recent decades, a number of sociologists, philosophers, and anthropologists have argued that the tourist, too, is searching for meaning in life and pursuing personal development, and may therefore be considered a secular pilgrim. This ambiguity, increasingly cultivated in contemporary socio-human sciences, may be interpreted as a simplification, if not even a distortion, of past and present realities.

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