This book is exactly up my alley: literal pilgrimage, deep theological reflection, fascinating history, and beautifully written. It made me jealous of this great idea and opportunity of traveling in Martin Luther's footsteps to Rome in 1511. The weaknesses are merely that sometimes the journey becomes too slow, the reflections too drawn out. I'd recommend this to a wide Christian audience, and give it the highest recommendation to people interested in Martin Luther, medieval Europe, or the Reformation. ( )

In 2010, Andrew Wilson and his wife Sarah decided to walk in the footsteps of Martin Luther's trip to Rome, a journey of 1000 miles. This book is the story of their journey and is in many ways a typical modern pilgrim book talking about accommodations and the challenges along the way. Like all good pilgrim books, it talks about their encounters with people along the way.

They undertook this journey in 2010, the 500th anniversary of Luther's journey. Because little is actually left from Luther's day, the book talks about the joys of finding things that Luther himself would have seen. Wilson reveals the challenges of actually knowing which way Luther travelled and even the year that he travelled. The irony is that, after their trip is over, new research revealed that Luther's trip started in a different city and even in a different year. Having just completed the Lutherweg 1521 trail myself, I could very much identify with Wilson's challenges.

What makes this book special is its discussion of the regional differences from Protestant Germany, Catholic Bavaria and Catholic Italy. In particular, it discusses the differences between Lutheran and Catholic thinking as well as attempts towards ecumenisms.

My favorite part of the book was the last chapter where wife Sarah talks about the challenges of walking a 1000 mile pilgrimage. it has excellent advice for anyone thinking of starting on their own pilgrimage. ( )