Reinhold von Derschau’s Christian Pilgrimage (1675)

Abstract: Several years before John Bunyan published Pilgrim’s Progress , a comparable account of the temptations and choices faced by a Christian pilgrim on the Path of Life was composed by a Lutheran jurist in East Prussia. Written by Reinhold von Derschau and revised by his son, Hodosophia or Christian Pilgrimage (1675) never gained the popularity of Bunyan’s book, but it provides an interesting glimpse of the mindset and concerns of an erudite seventeenth-century layman. It draws almost equally on the resources of the Bible, Lutheran devotional writings, and classical Latin and Greek literature, especially The Tablet of Cebes. The narrative, also depicted in an attached copper engraving, describes the sins that lead to destruction and the lessons to be learned from Abraham, Christ, Micah, the Good Samaritan, and King David along the Good Path. Although deeply influenced by Luther, von Derschau, like some later Pietists, suggests that the implications of “faith alone” have frequently been misinterpreted.