Literature and Theology Advance Access originally published online on October 31, 2008
Literature and Theology 2009 23(1):18-32; doi:10.1093/litthe/frn050
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Walking into the Frame:A Theological Exploration of Pilgrimage along Anton Mauve's A Dutch Road*
Department of Philosophy and Religion, Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH 45810, USA
f-clingerman{at}onu.edu
 |
Abstract |
|---|
To offer a contemporary theological interpretation of pilgrimage, how might we describe the meaning of journeying and illustrate its spiritual depth? Integrating insights from the theology of culture and the theology of place, a philosophical theology of pilgrimage defines spiritual journeying as a uniquely dialectical movement of place and movement, being and action, dwelling and mobility. To show this, the first part of the essay provides an interpretation of a work of art, by investigating the unlikely but evocative description of pilgrimage found in the painting by Anton Mauve called A Dutch Road. In a reflection on this painting, the meaning of pilgrimage is found by walking into the frame of the canvas. Second, a more critical examination of a Christian theology of pilgrimage is developed as a response to Mauve's painting. The movement of the traveler can be shown as the identification of the Christian with the communio viatorum, as well as in the movement between journey and destination. Thus, within the surface of a painting, we find an important portrayal of the relationship between finite and infinite as it appears in human journeys.
* Completion of this article was aided by a summer Faculty Development Grant from Ohio Northern University. Thanks go to Verna Ehret, Mark Dixon and the anonymous reviewers of Literature and Theology for helpful comments on various drafts of this essay.