The Influence of the Bible on CivilisationDobschütz, Ernst von
History
The Influence of the Bible on Civilisation
Dobschütz, Ernst von
Bible -- Influence
There are still a few
survivals, such as the Passion Play of Oberammergau, which, however, has
undergone a thorough change. There is now a revival of these popular
plays, but I doubt if it will be successful. Possibly the film will take
the place, as it has entered some churches already.
Men nearly always like to travel and the Germans liked it exceedingly
well. This tendency received a special direction from the Bible; there
were so many sacred sites in Palestine which a Christian wanted to see.
So since the fourth century we see many people from the West--from Gaul,
Spain, later on from Germany and England--travelling to the Holy Land in
order to visit all the places connected with the sacred history of the
Bible. At the end of the eleventh century the pilgrims suddenly turned
into crusaders, sailing by thousands, fighting, settling down for a
while, going back again. Then after a period of nearly two centuries of
vain struggle for the possession of the Holy Land they changed again
into pilgrims. Meanwhile, the Holy Land had changed also, and Christian
piety, too. They were now not so much interested in visiting the sacred
sites themselves as in gaining the indulgences which were granted in
abundance to the visitors to each of these places. We still possess a
long series of descriptions of these pilgrimages, increasing from
century to century not only in number but also in size. The pilgrims did
not rest until they had fixed upon a certain location in Palestine for
every event in the Bible. Sometimes we seem to catch the process of
fixation. The hermit or monk who served as guide had just told the
company everything he himself knew about the resurrection of Lazarus.
Then suddenly some one broke in with the question, "And where was it
that Jesus met Martha?" and the poor hermit would be sure to show him a
rock or a doorway, of which he had never thought before. They showed the
pilgrims the place where Abraham and Melchisedek met, the tomb of
Rachel, the monastery of Elijah on Mount Carmel. They would show also
the mantle Elijah left to Elisha or the widow's cruse of oil which was
always full. At Nazareth one could see the rock from which the citizens
tried to throw down Jesus headlong, and one could see on the rock the
imprint of his body, which he left there--according to a legendary
addition to the story--when passing through the crowd unhurt. On the
Mount of Olives was the Chapel of the Ascension. Here the pilgrims
could see and worship the footprints made by Jesus when he leaped up
toward heaven. Nay, we are told that people used to carry away dust from
this place to use for charms, and yet the footprints never disappeared.
I am giving these examples in order to show how even here sacred history
and legend were mixed together. It is obvious, however, from what I have
said that the pilgrimages contributed a great deal to make people
familiar with the Bible stories; for not only the pilgrims themselves
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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