colonel@sunybcs.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) (10/09/85)
["At last! My new gorilla-detector machine! They can't fool me now!"] > Actually, in the case of the Norse religions, the answer is quite simple; > the various Norse people were exposed to Christianity, and decided that it > was the better religion. From what I've read of King Olaf, the people may have decided that Christianity was better than being disemboweled. Disclaimer: all I've read of King Olaf is Longfellow's poem!
slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (10/18/85)
>> Actually, in the case of the Norse religions, the answer is quite simple; >> the various Norse people were exposed to Christianity, and decided that it >> was the better religion. >From what I've read of King Olaf, the people may have decided that >Christianity was better than being disemboweled. From what I've read, you are both correct. There were two great causes behind the conversion of Scandinavia. The most powerful reason was the sword. Olaf (there were several by the name, but I am referring to Olaf the fat, who luckily for him became St. Olaf--it sounds so much better in the history books :-)) was a major culprit. The coast of Norway was largely Christian when he came to power--and in five years he slaughtered, plundered and raped his way across much of the rest of Scandinavia--leaving Christianity in his wake. (995-1000 are the dates, I think.) The second reason was that many of the mythic elements in Christianity resembled those in the Norse religions. The cross resembled Thor's Hammer, for instance. Odin's hanging on the Great Tree, Balder's death and resurrection are a couple of other examples. Clever Christian missionaries were able to use these common mythic elements to convince people that they were not really changing their religion so much. In addition, Norse religion held little hope for any sort of pleasant afterlife. Christians were able to exploit the desire for pie in the sky to make converts. People often seem willing to discard cultural beauty for promises of heaven, or for the wishes and preferment of their rulers. This particular cause can be seen more in the history of Iceland where both traditions lived side by side for some years, until as usual--when they were enough of a majority to get away with it--the Christians persecuted and slaughtered as many of the remainder as they could. Paganism has never really died in Scandinavia, though, thank the gods. I have a couple of pretty good references if you want them. It am not at home right now, so I don't know authors. But "Gods of the North", and "The Vikings" are the titles. Sif Lives!! -- Sue Brezden ihnp4!drutx!slb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I march to the beat of a different drummer, whose identity, location, and musical ability are as yet unknown. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~