Auf Luthers Spuren unterwegs

The tradition from the Middle Ages of going on a pilgrimage has come to have a new meaning today as many people are on the move searching for meaning. This travel book and reader is not part of the growing literature surrounding the theme of pilgrimages, but rather takes a different approach: Its main theme is the early trip of Martin Luther to Rome in 1510/1511, from which the young monk hoped to offer a general confession and obtain a maximum degree of indulgence. In retrospect, however, he was appalled at the godless world prevailing in Rome of the Late Middle Ages. If you take the trip described in this reader and wander in the footsteps of Luther you will encounter many monasteries, churches and other important places of Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Austria of the Late Middle Ages. And you need not be Protestant to take this path, for the Protestant traces laid out here are in fact of particular ecumenical and historical interest: They lead directly to the history of the Reformation and the dawning of a new era.