Greetings!
>I'd think influences and concepts could go in either direction -
>heathen-christian or christian-heathen or something else. (Dubois
>points out, though, that christianity in North Europe was more
>resistant to incorporation of previous elements.) Dating of Hávamál is
>disputed, and whether this bit is currently seen as early or late I
>don't know. But it's powerful stuff.
It is very theologically potent.
J.M. Robertson in Pagan Christs and other books describes how
Christianity drew upon pre-christian formulae to express its mysteries.
He was writing from an anti-Christian viewpoint which we do not need to
share and which was very much routed in its times (c1900).
It may be co-incidence. A previous poster has observed that the cross
was often identified with the tree. The Norse tradition, as the axis of
its cosmology, had the World Ash Yggdrasil. The Jewish mystical
tradition has the Tree of Life and many have interpreted the Crucifixion
in Qabalistic terms relating to the Tree of Life. It is, perhaps, not
surprising that Odin's crucial initiation would relate to the World Ash
and their be similarities with that of Christ.
They may be influence from Christianity to Norse religion. We should
avoid value laden terms that suggest that the Norse version of the
formula is in any way less valid than the Christian. I am curious as to
the actual mechanism of such influence. Perhaps people recognised in the
new religious stories a further revelation of their own mysteries. If
there is influence from Christianity to Norse the Northern folk went to
the crucial part of the Christian corpus and re-imagined what that would
be for their god-hero and expressed that in entirely Norse terms
(apparently, no life after death, redemption from sin or revelation of a
monotheistic God - but knowledge of the runes!).
As mentioned I am curious as to the mechanism of such influence. Often
it is the glamour of the exotic that attracts, whether that be India and
Norway for the anonymous writer of the 1665 Scot appendices, Hebrew and
Latin for the Cunning Men, American Indians for the spiritualists, India
for 20th Century counter-culturalists and more recently shaman for
similar scenes. Of course, concerning the Norse, we have only fragments
to judge from, but this does not seem to be the case.
With my best wishes
Ben
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Ben Fernee
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