On World conception and the Pioneering Spirit of Samuel Purchas' "Pilgrimage"
Author: CAI Qian, Ph. D. Candidate, Fujian Normal University; Lecturer, School of Liberal Arts, Shangqiu Normal University
Abstract:
This paper explores the meaning of “pilgrimage” in the works of Anglican priest and author of travel anthologies, Samuel Purchas. It is to inspect his works combining his personal experience with the era discourse, and then think about the position of “pilgrimage” in the history of Christian thoughts and its relationship with the intellectual development of the United Kingdom. The present paper is the interpretation of Purchas’ “pilgrimage” from the religious significance and exploration from the intellectual history. In its religious interpretation, the present paper focuses on the relationship between body and world that Purchas inherits and surpasses his predecessors and its functions in Purchas’ “pilgrimage” which indicates his world conception. From the perspective of intellectual history, the present paper is to explain how Purchas “pilgrimage” creates the pioneering spirit of practical significance with its implication of the religious consciousness. The present paper argues that Purchas’ “pilgrimage” is a system of multiple meanings: Firstly, there is isomorphic relationship between the inside of body and the outside of world ; secondly, Purchas’ “pilgrimage” is to explore the process of realizing God in the outside world; finally, Purchas’ “pilgrimage” has different instructive and inspiring meanings for different segments of the United Kingdom, and brings about the pioneering spirit of practical significance objectively from the religious consciousness, and becomes a unique ideological resource from the background of transition from the old era.
Keywords:
Samuel Purchas, Pilgrimage, Body, World Conception, Pioneering Spirit
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