Pilgrimage in Christianity — Christianity

What the specification asks for

Paper 2, Section 2, 2.2 (Christianity). Assessed on AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (analysis and evaluation), weighted equally. Incandio is aligned to this specification. It is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's indicative content — the point numbers are given so you can check every unit against your own copy.

1 · Understand it

Nobody has to go anywhere. Christianity requires no journey and most Christians have never made one — and yet millions travel every year to stand in particular places. If God is equally present everywhere, working out what the travelling is supposed to do is the whole of this unit.

What it means

The specification names the nature, history and purpose of Christian pilgrimage, then three destinations. Bethlehem, with the Church of the Nativity, Shepherds' Field and Manger Square. Jerusalem, with the Via Dolorosa — the route traditionally followed as the way to crucifixion — Golgotha, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built over the traditional sites of the crucifixion and the tomb. And one other place of the learner's own choosing.

The first thing to establish is that pilgrimage is not required. There is no Christian equivalent of an obligatory journey, and no Christian is under any duty to travel — which is precisely what makes 'is it important?' a real question rather than a formality.

The purpose is understood as prayer, penitence, thanksgiving or seeking healing, and never as earning anything. That last point matters, because the objection the Reformation raised was exactly that it had become a work.

The Stations of the Cross are worth knowing here: fourteen scenes of the passion prayed in sequence, which is a pilgrimage made without travelling at all — and therefore the clearest evidence that the tradition can separate the devotion from the journey.

Why believers hold it

Christianity's ambivalence here is theological rather than practical, and both sides follow from things the tradition holds. If God is equally present everywhere and salvation is by grace, no journey can add anything — which is the Reformation objection in one sentence. The defence is that human beings are physical, and that standing where something happened does something to a person that reading about it does not.

That is why the practice is widespread and its status contested at the same time. Catholic and Orthodox traditions value it deeply, with major shrines and organised pilgrimage; Protestant traditions are traditionally sceptical, and visits to the Holy Land are more often study tours than devotions.

The tension sits on a real point rather than a muddle. Christianity holds both that God is everywhere and that he became flesh in one particular place at one particular time — so a religion that took the second claim seriously was always going to find places mattering to it, whatever the first claim implies.

The evaluation then has a firm floor. Pilgrimage cannot be essential to Christianity, because it has never been required and most Christians have never made one, so a statement calling it essential fails on the tradition's own terms — and saying so precisely is the answer rather than an evasion.

Where it comes from

• The Lord's Prayer — Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4 (translated)

  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

  The prayer Jesus taught, said by Christians of every tradition. Its forgiveness clause makes receiving forgiveness conditional on giving it.

  What it is doing here: Is prayed at every station and shrine, which shows the devotion travelling with the pilgrim rather than waiting at the destination.

• The Bible, New Testament — the Sheep and the Goats — Matthew 25:40 (translated)

  Just as you did it to one of the least of these ... you did it to me.

  Christ identifies himself with the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned and the stranger. Care for the poor is not optional charity but service to Christ, and the passage attaches it to judgement.

  What it is doing here: Supplies the standing objection from inside: the money and time might have gone to the hungry, and the tradition itself raises it.

• The Bible, New Testament — Mark 12:31 (also Matthew 22:39, Leviticus 19:18) (translated)

  Love your neighbour as yourself.

  The second of the two great commandments. Jesus makes love of neighbour inseparable from love of God.

  What it is doing here: Is the standard a pilgrimage is measured against, since a journey that leaves somebody less attentive to a neighbour has failed on the tradition's own terms.

Where it bites

The specification asks for PRACTICES, and reports name that word specifically, so give them. At Bethlehem: entering the Church of the Nativity through the low Door of Humility, touching the star marking the traditional birthplace, visiting Shepherds' Field. At Jerusalem: walking the Via Dolorosa and stopping at the stations, praying at Golgotha, entering the tomb.

For the third place, choose one with distinctive practices. At Lourdes: being blessed with or bathing in the spring water, the torchlight procession, the anointing of the sick. On the Camino to Santiago: walking for weeks and collecting stamps in a pilgrim passport, which makes the journey itself the devotion.

What people get wrong

People think: Christians are supposed to make a pilgrimage at least once.

Actually: There is no such requirement anywhere in Christianity, and most Christians never make one. That is not laxity: a religion holding that God is everywhere and salvation is by grace has no structural place for an obligatory journey.

People think: Pilgrimage is the same in every Christian tradition.

Actually: Catholic and Orthodox traditions value it deeply and Protestant traditions are traditionally sceptical, on the ground that no place is holier than another and that the practice risks becoming a work. That division follows directly from the disagreement about grace.

People think: Pilgrimage means going abroad.

Actually: The Stations of the Cross are fourteen scenes of the passion prayed in sequence in a local church, which is a pilgrimage made without travelling. The tradition can separate the devotion from the journey, and that fact is useful in an evaluation.

What the examiner expects you to understand

• Give practices rather than descriptions of buildings; reports name 'practices' as a key word in questions on these sites.
• Establish early that pilgrimage is not required, because every judgement in this unit depends on it.
• Prepare a third destination properly, since the specification lets you choose it and a vague one wastes the freedom.
• For a statement that pilgrimage is essential, the absence of any requirement settles the strong version on the tradition's own terms.
• The sharpest available point is that the Stations let a Christian make the pilgrimage without the journey, which separates the two things the statement runs together.

2 · Grade 9 Notes

Core belief / issue

The specification names the nature, history and purpose of Christian pilgrimage, then three destinations: Bethlehem with the Church of the Nativity, Shepherds' Field and Manger Square; Jerusalem with the Via Dolorosa, Golgotha and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; and ONE other place of the learner's choosing. It then asks for different attitudes to the importance and practice of pilgrimage. Christianity does not require pilgrimage, which makes 'is it important?' a real question.

Key terminology

Incandio's mark schemes credit the religion's own vocabulary; spelling variants are accepted, a vague paraphrase is not.

Pilgrimage

A journey to a holy place undertaken for religious reasons.

Via Dolorosa

The route in Jerusalem traditionally followed as the way Jesus walked to crucifixion.

Golgotha (also Calvary)

The place of the crucifixion.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The church in Jerusalem built over the traditional sites of the crucifixion and the tomb.

Church of the Nativity

The church in Bethlehem built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth.

Stations of the Cross

Fourteen scenes of the passion, prayed in sequence — a pilgrimage made without travelling.

What Christianity teaches

• shared — Pilgrimage is NOT required in Christianity. There is no equivalent of Hajj, and no Christian is under an obligation to travel anywhere.
• common — Pilgrimage is nonetheless valued: it connects the pilgrim physically to the events of the faith and sets ordinary life aside for a purpose.
  • Roman Catholic — Strongly valued; extensive pilgrimage to Lourdes, Rome, Santiago and the Holy Land, often with indulgences historically attached.
  • Orthodox — Strongly valued; pilgrimage to monasteries, relics and the Holy Land.
  • Protestant — Historically cool towards it, on the ground that God is equally present everywhere and that pilgrimage risks becoming a work; visiting the Holy Land is now common as study rather than as devotion.
• shared — The purpose is understood as prayer, penitence, thanksgiving or seeking healing — not as earning anything.

Why it teaches this

Christianity's ambivalence about pilgrimage is theological rather than practical. If God is equally present everywhere and salvation is by grace, then no journey can add anything — which is precisely the Reformation objection. The defence is that human beings are physical and that standing where something happened does something to a person that reading about it does not. Both positions follow from things Christianity holds, which is why the practice is widespread and its status is contested.

Sources of authority

• The Lord's Prayer — Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4 (translated)

  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

  The prayer Jesus taught, said by Christians of every tradition. Its forgiveness clause makes receiving forgiveness conditional on giving it.

  How to use it: It is the clearest example of a set prayer doing doctrinal work: a Christian cannot say it without committing to forgive.

  What it does not settle: Being universally said, it distinguishes no tradition from another.

• The Bible, New Testament — the Sheep and the Goats — Matthew 25:40 (translated)

  Just as you did it to one of the least of these ... you did it to me.

  Christ identifies himself with the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned and the stranger. Care for the poor is not optional charity but service to Christ, and the passage attaches it to judgement.

  How to use it: It makes poverty a matter of salvation rather than of generosity, which is why Christian aid organisations describe their work as obedience rather than kindness.

  What it does not settle: It does not decide between charity and structural justice — the 2019 statement 'It is more important to work for justice than give charity' is a real debate inside the tradition.

• The Bible, New Testament — Mark 12:31 (also Matthew 22:39, Leviticus 19:18) (translated)

  Love your neighbour as yourself.

  The second of the two great commandments. Jesus makes love of neighbour inseparable from love of God.

  How to use it: It converts a belief into an obligation towards a specific person, which is why it can be used on almost any ethical topic — but the work is in saying WHO the neighbour is in this case and what love requires of them here.

  What it does not settle: It does not tell you what love requires. It has been used to argue for and against euthanasia, for and against same-sex relationships, and for and against pacifism.

Different interpretations

• Pilgrimage as encounter: the physical journey and the physical place matter because human beings are bodies, not minds with luggage.
• Pilgrimage as penance and prayer: the effort is part of the point, which is why walking routes like the Camino are undertaken on foot.
• The critical reading: God is not more present in Bethlehem than in Birmingham, and treating a place as holy risks superstition. Held from the Reformation onwards and still held.

Differences within Christianity

This is one of the clearest Catholic/Protestant divisions of practice on the specification, and it follows directly from the disagreement about grace and works.

• Roman Catholic — A valued devotional practice with major shrines and organised pilgrimage; Lourdes receives millions annually.
• Orthodox — Deeply rooted; monasteries and relics are major destinations.
• Protestant — Traditionally sceptical; the Holy Land is visited widely, more often as study tour than as devotion.

Application to the issue

The specification asks for PRACTICES, and the 2019 report names 'practices' as one of two key words in a question about Bethlehem — so name them. At Bethlehem: entering the Church of the Nativity through the low Door of Humility, touching the star marking the traditional birthplace, visiting Shepherds' Field, gathering in Manger Square at Christmas. At Jerusalem: walking the Via Dolorosa stopping at the stations, praying at Golgotha, entering the tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For the third place: Lourdes — bathing in or being blessed with the spring water, the torchlight procession, the anointing of the sick; or Santiago de Compostela — walking the Camino over weeks and collecting stamps in a pilgrim passport.

Arguments supporting

• Standing where it happened does something reading cannot. — Christianity is a religion of events in places, and the incarnation itself is the claim that God entered physical particularity. (catholic)
  Answered by: It cannot be necessary, since the great majority of Christians in history never travelled and were not held to be missing anything.
• The journey itself is formative. — Walking the Camino for weeks changes a person in a way arriving by coach does not. (catholic)
  Answered by: That is an argument for a certain kind of journey rather than for pilgrimage, and a long walk anywhere might do it.

Arguments challenging

• God is equally present everywhere, so no place is holier. — The Reformation objection, held consistently since. (protestant)
  Answered by: The tradition's reply is that the place is not holier but the PILGRIM is differently disposed there, which concedes the theology and keeps the practice.
• It risks becoming a work — something done to earn favour. — Indulgences attached to pilgrimage were among the Reformation's specific grievances. (protestant)
  Answered by: Modern Catholic teaching is explicit that pilgrimage earns nothing and is an act of devotion, which meets the objection directly.

Evaluation

The hinge: Whether a physical place can matter to a religion whose God is everywhere. Christianity holds both that God is omnipresent and that he became flesh in one place, and pilgrimage sits exactly on that tension.

Defensible conclusions

• Pilgrimage cannot be essential to Christianity, because it has never been required and most Christians have never made one — so a statement calling it essential fails on the tradition's own terms.
• It is defensible as valuable rather than necessary, and the incarnation is the strongest argument for it: a religion claiming God entered a particular place cannot be indifferent to places.
• The Protestant objection is theologically serious and has been substantially met by modern Catholic teaching, which insists pilgrimage earns nothing — so the practical disagreement has narrowed more than the historical one.

Not defensible

• Describing pilgrimage generally when the question names a place; the 2019 report names Bethlehem as a binding key word.
• Writing about why the place is significant when the question asks for PRACTICES, or the reverse.

Exam use

• Outline · 4 marks — Outline two practices associated with pilgrimage to a named place. PRACTICES — things pilgrims do. The 2019 report identifies 'practices' and the place name as the two key words.
• Explain · 6 marks — Explain why Jerusalem may be an important place of pilgrimage for Christians. The 2021 report notes that candidates who knew WHICH events happened there scored well — so name the events.
• Discuss · 10 marks — Statements about whether pilgrimage is essential are the expected shape. The fact that Christianity has never required it is the decisive evidence.

Common mistakes

• Answering about significance when the question asks for practices — the 2019 and 2022 reports both record this.
• Writing about pilgrimage in general when a place is named.
• Presenting pilgrimage as a Christian obligation.

“Christians believe divorce is always wrong.” — That is the Catholic position. Orthodox Christianity permits divorce in limited circumstances, and most Protestant churches permit divorce and remarriage.

Write instead: Name the tradition. 'Catholic teaching holds marriage indissoluble, so the Church annuls rather than divorces' is accurate and scores; 'Christians believe' on a divided question is not. Do not over-correct. Many claims genuinely ARE shared — the Trinity, the resurrection, the authority of the Bible — and hedging those makes an answer weaker, not more careful. (Named in the 2025 examiner report for Paper 1.)

Grade 9 insight

The Stations of the Cross are the sharpest thing available on this unit: they are a pilgrimage along the Via Dolorosa made without leaving the building, and nearly every Catholic church has them on its walls. That the tradition developed a way of making the pilgrimage without travelling tells you exactly what it thought pilgrimage was FOR — the interior movement rather than the geography — and it hands a learner an argument that pilgrimage is valuable and not essential, made from inside the practice rather than against it.

Carry on through Christianity

• Previous unit: 2.1 · Christmas and Easter
• Next unit: 3.1 · Churches: design and features
• Side by side: Pilgrimage across the six religions — Is pilgrimage required, and where do believers go?
• All of Christianity · Incandio Religious Studies · The 4RS1 specification