Paganism and Its Discontents
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Number Symbolism in Old Norse Literature
Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Medieval Icelandic Studies Number Symbolism in Old Norse Literature A Brief Study Ritgerð til MA-prófs í íslenskum miðaldafræðum Li Tang Kt.: 270988-5049 Leiðbeinandi: Torfi H. Tulinius September 2015 Acknowledgements I would like to thank firstly my supervisor, Torfi H. Tulinius for his confidence and counsels which have greatly encouraged my writing of this paper. Because of this confidence, I have been able to explore a domain almost unstudied which attracts me the most. Thanks to his counsels (such as his advice on the “Blóð-Egill” Episode in Knýtlinga saga and the reading of important references), my work has been able to find its way through the different numbers. My thanks also go to Haraldur Bernharðsson whose courses on Old Icelandic have been helpful to the translations in this paper and have become an unforgettable memory for me. I‟m indebted to Moritz as well for our interesting discussion about the translation of some paragraphs, and to Capucine and Luis for their meticulous reading. Any fault, however, is my own. Abstract It is generally agreed that some numbers such as three and nine which appear frequently in the two Eddas hold special significances in Norse mythology. Furthermore, numbers appearing in sagas not only denote factual quantity, but also stand for specific symbolic meanings. This tradition of number symbolism could be traced to Pythagorean thought and to St. Augustine‟s writings. But the result in Old Norse literature is its own system influenced both by Nordic beliefs and Christianity. This double influence complicates the intertextuality in the light of which the symbolic meanings of numbers should be interpreted. -
Dennis Investigates Anglo-Saxon Dragons
What does an Anglo-Saxon have in common with the staff at Lincoln Castle? They both love stories Dennis the Investigate dragon has been finding out Dennis The Dragon’s about dragons! about the history of dragons. It turns out that people way back in Anglo-Saxon times were telling stories Delicious Claw Cookies about dragons too! ~ Who were the Anglo-Saxons? ~ Well they were a mixture. Sometime after the end of Roman rule in Britain some groups of people who had been raiding Roman Britain turned up and settled down. They came from across the North Sea, northwest Germany, western Denmark and northern Netherlands. They were a mixture of tribes that included Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians. As well as mixing together, they mixed with the locals (though there was some fighting). Later on, when Vikings settled parts of England (especially here in Lincolnshire) the two groups mixed again. In 1066 the last Anglo-Saxon king was killed at the Battle of Hastings and the Normans took over. An Anglo-Saxon church once stood where the Castle is now. ~ Anglo-Saxon Dragons ~ In the year 793 the Anglo-Saxons wrote in their Chronicle that they saw fiery dragons in the sky. It sounds incredible to us, but it was probably a real thing that they saw. In northern Europe you sometimes see strange red lights in the sky; we call them the Northern Lights and we know they are caused by sunspots which are more active about every 11 years. When we consult the charts, it seems 793 is very close to a peak in sunspots, so the Anglo-Saxons weren't seeing things that did not exist, just things they couldn't explain so they thought the lights were dragons! (although, of course, we aren’t saying dragons don’t exist!) ~ Beowulf and the Dragon ~ This story is adapted from Beowulf, a poem from the Dark Ages. -
Examining Nostra Aetate After 40 Years: Catholic-Jewish Relations in Our Time / Edited by Anthony J
EXAMINING NOSTRA AETATE AFTER 40 YEARS EXAMINING NOSTRA AETATE AFTER 40 YEARS Catholic-Jewish Relations in Our Time Edited by Anthony J. Cernera SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY PRESS FAIRFIELD, CONNECTICUT 2007 Copyright 2007 by the Sacred Heart University Press All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, contact the Sacred Heart University Press, 5151 Park Avenue, Fairfield, Connecticut 06825 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Examining Nostra Aetate after 40 Years: Catholic-Jewish Relations in our time / edited by Anthony J. Cernera. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-888112-15-3 1. Judaism–Relations–Catholic Church. 2. Catholic Church– Relations–Judaism. 3. Vatican Council (2nd: 1962-1965). Declaratio de ecclesiae habitudine ad religiones non-Christianas. I. Cernera, Anthony J., 1950- BM535. E936 2007 261.2’6–dc22 2007026523 Contents Preface vii Nostra Aetate Revisited Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy 1 The Teaching of the Second Vatican Council on Jews and Judaism Lawrence E. Frizzell 35 A Bridge to New Christian-Jewish Understanding: Nostra Aetate at 40 John T. Pawlikowski 57 Progress in Jewish-Christian Dialogue Mordecai Waxman 78 Landmarks and Landmines in Jewish-Christian Relations Judith Hershcopf Banki 95 Catholics and Jews: Twenty Centuries and Counting Eugene Fisher 106 The Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University: -
Correcting Traditions and Inventing History: the Manipulation of Mythology and of the Past in the Nibelungen-Literature of the 19Th and 20Th Centuries
FULVIO FERRARI (Università degli Studi di Trento) Correcting traditions and inventing history: the manipulation of mythology and of the past in the Nibelungen-literature of the 19th and 20th centuries Summary. This contribution analyses several relevant rewrites of the Nibelungen legend in order to point out the narrative strategies deployed by different authors to establish a relationship between the traditional plot (or, rather, plots), which were handed down through centuries by oral transmission and Medieval sources, and a concrete historical context. The Medieval written versions of the legend – both the Old Norse and the German ones – show little or, in fact, no interest in the historical setting of the narrative and do not seem to pursue any reliable or chronological con- sistence. The modern re-writers, on the contrary, have often set the action in specific historical contexts, a choice of setting which is usually strictly connected to the au- thor’s artistic, cultural and ideological agenda. To this end, I have singled out texts which, in my opinion, reflect important changes in mentality and culture, without belabouring the variances in their literary worth: first of all, I took into account some rewrites which belong to the German 19th cen- tury (Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, Ernst Raupach, Friedrich Hebbel and Felix Dahn); then Ibsen’s theatrical rewrite of the Völsunga saga; the fantasy novels by the contemporary new-heathen writers Stephan Grundy and Diana L. Paxson; and, finally, the iconoclastic theatrical pastiches of the playwrights Heiner Müller and Volker Braun, whose works are deeply rooted in the experience of the German Democratic Republic. -
The Construction of Pagan Identity in Lithuanian “Pagan Metal” Culture
VYTAUTO DIDŢIOJO UNIVERSITETAS SOCIALINIŲ MOKSLŲ FAKULTETAS SOCIOLOGIJOS KATEDRA Agnė Petrusevičiūtė THE CONSTRUCTION OF PAGAN IDENTITY IN LITHUANIAN “PAGAN METAL” CULTURE Magistro baigiamasis darbas Socialinės antropologijos studijų programa, valstybinis kodas 62605S103 Sociologijos studijų kryptis Vadovas Prof. Ingo W. Schroeder _____ _____ (Moksl. laipsnis, vardas, pavardė) (Parašas) (Data) Apginta _________________________ ______ _____ (Fakulteto/studijų instituto dekanas/direktorius) (Parašas) (Data) Kaunas, 2010 1 Table of contents SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................ 4 SANTRAUKA .................................................................................................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 8 I. THEORIZING ―SUBCULTURE‖: LOOKING AT SCIENTIFIC STUDIES .............................. 13 1.1. Overlooking scientific concepts in ―subcultural‖ research ..................................................... 13 1.2. Assumptions about origin of ―subcultures‖ ............................................................................ 15 1.3 Defining identity ...................................................................................................................... 15 1.3.1 Identity and ―subcultures‖ ................................................................................................ -
Univerzita Karlova Filozofická Fakulta Diplomová
UNIVERZITA KARLOVA FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA Ústav filosofie a religionistiky Studijní obor: religionistika DIPLOMOVÁ PRÁCE Radical Paganism: Contemporary Heathens in Search of Political Identity Bc. Martina Miechová Vedoucí práce: Tereza Matějčková, Ph.D. 2019 Prohlašuji, že jsem práci vypracovala samostatně, že jsem řádně citovala všechny použité prameny a literaturu a že práce nebyla využita v rámci jiného vysokoškolského studia či k získání jiného nebo stejného titulu. V Praze dne 29.7.2019 ........................................ Poděkování Tereza Matějčková, Ph.D. mě podpořila povzbuzujícími konzultacemi, podnětnými připomínkami a trpělivostí během doby, kdy práce vznikala. Jagodě Mackowiak vděčím za přátelskou podporu a Mgr. Veronice Krajíčkové za neocenitelnou radu v začátcích. Nepřímo se o mou práci zasloužil i Adam Anczyk, PhD, který ve mně vzbudil zájem o téma novopohanství a jeho transformace v dnešní společnosti. Všem bych tímto ráda upřímně poděkovala. ABSTRAKT Tato práce si klade za cíl zmapovat vývoj politického myšlení Severského novopohanství a určit faktory, které vedou k politizaci konkrétních typů novopohanských skupin a k jejich příklonu k pravicovému radikalismu. První kapitola po úvodu sestává ze čtyř případových studií, z nichž každá představuje jiný typ skupiny z pohledu místa a okolností vzniku, kontextu, v němž se se vyvíjela jejich náboženská a politická přesvědčení, a ze způsobu legitimizace jejich případného politického aktivismu. Následující dvě kapitoly se soustředí na analýzu historických souvislostí, které zapříčinily rozdílné ideologické směřování skupin v rámci dvou hlavních typů Severského pohanství, Ásatrú a Odinismu, a to ve dvou odlišných kulturních prostředích Evropy a Spojených Států. Závěrečná kapitola přináší syntézu zkoumaných skupin ve vzájemných souvislostech spolu s jejich historickým pozadím; tato syntéza pak nabízí možnou interpretaci procesu jejich radikalizace. -
Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds an End to Antisemitism!
Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds An End to Antisemitism! Edited by Armin Lange, Kerstin Mayerhofer, Dina Porat, and Lawrence H. Schiffman Volume 5 Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds Edited by Armin Lange, Kerstin Mayerhofer, Dina Porat, and Lawrence H. Schiffman ISBN 978-3-11-058243-7 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-067196-4 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-067203-9 DOI https://10.1515/9783110671964 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For details go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Library of Congress Control Number: 2021931477 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2021 Armin Lange, Kerstin Mayerhofer, Dina Porat, Lawrence H. Schiffman, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston The book is published with open access at www.degruyter.com Cover image: Illustration by Tayler Culligan (https://dribbble.com/taylerculligan). With friendly permission of Chicago Booth Review. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com TableofContents Preface and Acknowledgements IX LisaJacobs, Armin Lange, and Kerstin Mayerhofer Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds: Introduction 1 Confronting Antisemitism through Critical Reflection/Approaches -
Óðinn and His Cosmic Cross
Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Norrænt meistaranám í víkinga- og miðaldafræðum ÓÐINN AND HIS COSMIC CROSS Sacrifice and Inception of a God at the Axis of the Universe Lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í Norrænt meistaranám í víkinga- og miðaldafræðum Jesse Benjamin Barber Kt.: 030291-2639 Leiðbeinandi: Gísli Sigurðsson Luke John Murphy May 2017 1 Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Gísli Siggurðsson for his primary supervision and guidance throughout the writng of this thesis. I would also like to thank Luke John Murphy for his secondary supervision and vital advice. Thanks to Terry Gunnell for his recommendations on literature and thanks to Jens Peter Schjødt, who helped me at the early stages of my research. I would also like to thank all of the staff within the Viking and Medieval Norse Studies Master’s Program, thank you for two unforgettable years of exploration into this field. Thank you to my family and friends around the world. Your love and support has been a source of strength for me at the most difficult times. I am grateful to everyone, who has helped me throughout these past two years and throughout my education leading up to them. 2 Abstract: Stanzas 138 through 141 of the eddic poem Hávamál illustrate a scene of Óðinn’s self- sacrifice or sjálfsfórn, by hanging himself from a tree to obtain the runes. These four stanzas, which mark the beginning of the section Rúnatals þáttr, constitute some of the most controversial and important eddic poetry. Concerning the passage, Jens Peter Schjødt says it is one of the most interesting scenes in the entire Old Norse Corpus from the perspective of Religious History. -
Jewish Culture in the Christian World James Jefferson White University of New Mexico - Main Campus
University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository History ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 11-13-2017 Jewish Culture in the Christian World James Jefferson White University of New Mexico - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation White, James Jefferson. "Jewish Culture in the Christian World." (2017). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds/207 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. James J White Candidate History Department This thesis is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Thesis Committee: Sarah Davis-Secord, Chairperson Timothy Graham Michael Ryan i JEWISH CULTURE IN THE CHRISTIAN WORLD by JAMES J WHITE PREVIOUS DEGREES BACHELORS THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts History The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December 2017 ii JEWISH CULTURE IN THE CHRISTIAN WORLD BY James White B.S., History, University of North Texas, 2013 M.A., History, University of New Mexico, 2017 ABSTRACT Christians constantly borrowed the culture of their Jewish neighbors and adapted it to Christianity. This adoption and appropriation of Jewish culture can be fit into three phases. The first phase regarded Jewish religion and philosophy. From the eighth century to the thirteenth century, Christians borrowed Jewish religious exegesis and beliefs in order to expand their own understanding of Christian religious texts. -
Transformations of the Lithuanian God Perk\Nas
Transformations of the Lithuanian God Perk\nas Nijol] Laurinkien] In the article, later substitutions for the god Perkunas are analysed. Most frequently appear the names of the prophet Eliah (Alijošius) and St. George (Jurgis) as the Christian replacements diffused from the Lithuanian region, which borders on Belarus where converting to Christianity began earlier. With the fall of the old culture a great many traditions indicated the god of thunder as undergoing a complete transformation into new characters, mostly those of modern religion. Lithuanian mythology also gives evidence of similar processes. The article aims at an analysis of further equivalents of Perk'nas, which reflect the mentioned process, as well as an attempt to delineate the possible reasons for these substitutes obtained by the god of thunder and their prevalence in Lithuania. The most common substitutes of Perk'nas are the prophet Elijah (Elijošius, Alijošius) and St George (Jurgis). These Christian characters as equivalents to the god of thunder are also known among eastern Slavs. Therefore, a logical question follows on the nature of such a peculiar concurrence, which will receive due attention in the article. Lithuanian folklore often observes Elijah mentioned together with Enoch (both, as the Bible suggests, having been so close to God that they were brought to dwell in heaven when still alive). Legends about Elijah and Enoch feature them being related to the motifs of old religion and those of Christianity (LPK 3459). From the latter, associations of the mentioned characters with the god of thunder can be obviously defined: when Elijah or Enoch rides in the heaven, it thunders and lightning is flashing: Seniai, labai seniai, kada dar Adomo ir Ievos nebuvę, Dievas sutvcrc AlijošiC ir Anoką. -
A Reconstructed Indigenous Religious Tradition in Latvia
religions Article A Reconstructed Indigenous Religious Tradition in Latvia Anita Stasulane Faculty of Humanities, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils LV-5401, Latvia; [email protected] Received: 31 January 2019; Accepted: 11 March 2019; Published: 14 March 2019 Abstract: In the early 20th century, Dievtur¯ıba, a reconstructed form of paganism, laid claim to the status of an indigenous religious tradition in Latvia. Having experienced various changes over the course of the century, Dievtur¯ıba has not disappeared from the Latvian cultural space and gained new manifestations with an increase in attempts to strengthen indigenous identity as a result of the pressures of globalization. This article provides a historical analytical overview about the conditions that have determined the reconstruction of the indigenous Latvian religious tradition in the early 20th century, how its form changed in the late 20th century and the types of new features it has acquired nowadays. The beginnings of the Dievturi movement show how dynamic the relationship has been between indigeneity and nationalism: indigenous, cultural and ethnic roots were put forward as the criteria of authenticity for reconstructed paganism, and they fitted in perfectly with nativist discourse, which is based on the conviction that a nation’s ethnic composition must correspond with the state’s titular nation. With the weakening of the Soviet regime, attempts emerged amongst folklore groups to revive ancient Latvian traditions, including religious rituals as well. Distancing itself from the folk tradition preservation movement, Dievtur¯ıba nowadays nonetheless strives to identify itself as a Latvian lifestyle movement and emphasizes that it represents an ethnic religion which is the people’s spiritual foundation and a part of intangible cultural heritage. -
Al(T-Right) Father? Germanic Neopaganism, Nordic Nationalism, and Modern Reception of Old Norse Religion and the Vikings
Al(t-Right) Father? Germanic Neopaganism, Nordic Nationalism, and Modern Reception of Old Norse Religion and the Vikings Trevor Kieser Master’s Thesis in Viking and Medieval Norse Studies Department of Linguistics and Scandinavians Studies (ILN) University of Oslo Spring 2019 - 30 Credits ii Al(t-Right) Father? Germanic Neopaganism, Nordic Nationalism, and Modern Reception of Old Norse Religion and the Vikings Trevor Kieser Master’s Thesis in Viking and Medieval Norse Studies – MAS4091 Department of Linguistics and Scandinavians Studies (ILN), University of Oslo Spring 2019 - 30 Credits iii © Trevor Kieser 2019 Al(t-Right) Father? Germanic Neopaganism, Nordic Nationalism, and Modern Reception of Old Norse Religion and the Vikings Trevor Kieser http://www.duo.uio.no/ Printer: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo iv Summary The purpose of this paper is to examine the modern reception of Old Norse religion and the image of the Vikings in a Nationalist context. I briefly describe the Old Norse pagan religion, as well as several extant sources on Old Norse pagan beliefs, before moving on to investigating the Germanic Neopagan movement which started in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. In order to explain this, however, there needs to be a necessary understanding of the creation and development of the Germanic völkisch movement, which directly led to Germanic Neopaganism. Out of völkisch thinking came the modern-day forms of Germanic Neopaganism, manifesting chiefly in Asatru. Its relation to nationalist thinking and its focus on the Nordic gods have drawn comparisons between Asatruers and Nazis, but this line of thinking is unfair and diminishes the faith of all Asatruers.