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More than Mythology
Written by distinguished scholars from multiple perspectives, this account widens the interpretative scope on religious life among the pre-Christian Scandinavian people. The religion of the Viking Age is conventionally identified through its mythology: the ambiguous character Odin, the forceful Thor, and the end of the world approaching in Ragnarök. However, pre-Christian religion consisted of so much more than mythic imagery and legends and has long lingered in folk tradition. Exploring the religion of the North through an interdisciplinary approach, the book sheds new light on a number of topics, including rituals, gender relations, social hierarchies, and interregional contacts between the Nordic tradition and the Sami and Finnish regions.
The Demise of Norse Religion
When describing the transition from Old Norse religion to Christianity in recent studies, the concept of "Christianization" is often applied. To a large extent this historiography focuses on the outcome of the encounter, namely the description of early Medieval Christianity and the new Christian society. The purpose of the present study is to concentrate more exclusively on the Old Norse religion during this period of change and to analyze the processes behind its disappearance on an official level of the society. More specifically this study concentrates on the role of Viking kings and indigenous agency in the winding up of the old religion. An actor-oriented perspective will thus be established, which focuses on the actions, methods and strategies applied by the early Christian Viking kings when dismantling the religious tradition that had previously formed their lives. In addition, the resistance that some pagan chieftains offered against these Christian kings is discussed as well as the question why they defended the old religious tradition.
Old Norse Religion in Long-term Perspectives
The study of Old Norse Religion is a truly multidisciplinary and international field of research. The rituals, myths and narratives of pre-Christian Scandinavia are investigated and interpreted by archaeologists, historians, art historians, historians of religion as well as scholars of literature, onomastics and Scandinavian studies. For obvious reasons, these studies belong to the main curricula in Scandinavia but are also carried out at many other universities in Europe, the United States and Australia a fact that is evident to any reader of this book. In order to bring this broad and varied field of research together, an international conference on Old Norse religion was held in Lund in J...
History and Structures
The product of an international interdisciplinary team, the 'History and Structures' strand of the 'Pre-Christian Religion of the North' series aims to approach the subject by giving equal weight to archaeological and textual sources, taking into consideration recent theories on religion within all the disciplines that are needed in order to gain a comprehensive view of the religious history and world view of pre-Christian Scandinavia from the perspective the beginning of the twenty-first century.00Volume I presents the basic premises of the study and a consideration of the sources: memory and oral tradition, written sources, religious vocabulary, place names and personal names, archaeology,...
Initiation Between Two Worlds
The purpose of this book is to apply theories and perspectives from the Study of Religion, or Comparative Religion, to the study of the pre-Christian culture in the North. The basic idea is that such an application will en-lighten our understanding of some myths and other narratives which, from other points of view, may seem obscure and thus give us a glimpse into the world view of the pagan Scandinavians, which cannot be obtained otherwise. The book deals with problems within the study of Religion as well as within Scandinavian Studies, and hopefully it can inspire scholars from both fields.
Critical Reflections on Indigenous Religions
The study of indigenous religions has become an important academic field, particularly since the religious practices of indigenous peoples are being transformed by forces of globalization and transcontinental migration. This book will further our understanding of indigenous religions by first considering key methodological issues related to defining and contextualizing the religious practices of indigenous societies, both historically and in socio-cultural situations. Two further sections of the book analyse cases derived from European contexts, which are often overlooked in discussion of indigenous religions, and in two traditional areas of study: South America and Africa.
Nordic Mythologies: Interpretations, Intersections, and Institutions
A collection of essays by leading scholars of Nordic Mythology.
Death Doesn't Discriminate
Death Doesn't Discriminate is a preliminary study into Scandinavian women of the Viking age. The book examines the religious motivations that Scandinavian women had to convert to Christianity. Namely, the study seeks to answer why women found Christianity appealing and chose to become Christian, setting aside pagan belief systems. The depictions of women in each belief system is explored both in daily life and in the mythology that underpinned both beliefs. The argument is made that what appealed most to Scandinavian women was the Christian afterlife.
