What makes a holy place holy? This is the question that soon presents itself to the Christian visiting the ‘Holy Land’. Wherever one goes, whether it be among the many sites in and around Jerusalem itself, or whether one travels through the countryside that Jesus must have looked on and walked over, one soon realises that some sites are more ‘authentic’ than others, and piety assumes many different forms. There is the old lady who caresses the stone on which, ostensibly, Jesus’ body was prepared for burial, then transferring whatever power she considers it has by going through the motions of anointing her own body. At the other extreme is the pilgrim, scandalised by the superstition and credulousness of such simple faith and by the unscrupulous behaviour of the clerical custodians in encouraging such behaviour, who seeks refuge in a less earthly spirituality which effectively holds itself aloof from the holy places he visits. If one feels a stranger in both camps then one has to either make excuses for the situation or make sense of it.

One can adopt the theological snobbery of the ‘well-informed Christian’ who accepts that that sort of demonstrative behaviour is fine and perhaps even a good thing for simple (not to say gullible) people whose only contact with the post-Vatican II Church is that brand of piety. Yet these same critics of the ‘simple faithful’ can offer their own equally unquestioning and questionable explanation of why they visit the holy places by bringing into play some theological formula.