Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the potential for cultural, religious or political critique in the vernacular pilgrimage movement developed in the Church of Sweden inspired by the Camino pilgrimage. Different religious heritages are discussed as well as a recent turn to ecology in the pilgrimage movement.

Paper long abstract:

One of the bewildering features of the phenomenon known as the Camino pilgrimage, as many scholars have noted, is the presence of a variety of religious, spiritual and secular elements in the same practice. In the vernacular pilgrimage movement that has developed in the Church of Sweden inspired by the Camino, these religious/spiritual/secular elements function as powerful cultural resources that continue to offer new paths to explore by pilgrims, clergy and theologians. In this paper, I will look at three distinctive themes that co-exist in the Swedish pilgrimage movement. Despite the common interpretation that the Camino pilgrimage has little in common with a traditional, Catholic cult of a saint, this theme is an important facet of the first pilgrimage centre in Sweden in Vadstena, where the religious heritage of St Bridget, pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela and famous for her visions of Mary, plays an important role. The second theme is the elaboration of a new theology of pilgrimage that cherishes religious-cultural themes that are familiar to a Lutheran tradition such as the asceticism in a simple way of life and nature as a source of religious experience. The third theme is sustainability and preservation of nature, recently drawn upon by the Church of Sweden, explicitly linking pilgrimage walks to ecology. How are these themes expressed and understood in Swedish pilgrimage, and in what ways, if any, are they bearers of a political/cultural/religious critique in contemporary Sweden?