Next Year in Jerusalem: A 21st Century, Medieval Pilgrimage Site

American Protestantism is generally regarded as scripturalist and lacking in such features as Passion plays and pilgrimage. The Holy Land Experience is an Orlando based Christian attraction that includes characteristics of both modern and medieval pilgrimage sites. In addition to the publicized Christian theme, an underlying yet equal message of Jewish heritage is pronounced within several of the park’s attributes. One dimension of this is that it serves as a substitutional pilgrimage; that is, an alternative to traveling to war torn Israel. This ethnography provides an emic perspective of the Holy Land Experience to hypothesize that it is a Christian pilgrimage site which promotes a positive standpoint of Jewish culture.