Abstract
The aim of this article is to explore how non-Christian deities are described, in comparison to the Christian God, in three Old Norse texts, belonging to different genres: Heimskringla, Barlaams saga og Jósafats, Elíss saga ok Rosamundu. These texts describe the pantheons of the Nordic cultures, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Saracens. The main question that I discuss is whether these texts may be seen as transmitting useful knowledge and information about these religions and pantheons to their Nordic audiences or whether they are meant to mainly serve the mandate of their Christian authors. I interpret my results by deploying cognitive literary theory and the concept of mentalization. To conclude, I discuss whether the way non-Christian deities are described may be seen as a mental guide for Old Norse readers to practise mentalization according to the Christian empathetic scripts, in order to reach a deeper cognitive and religious conviction and thus strengthen their Christian identities and communities during the times of the Crusades.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Special Issue Articles
- Nordischer Klang 2021: Zur Ästhetik des nordischen Protestantismus
- Nature, Work, and Transcendence
- „Nulla dies sine linea“
- Articles
- Evidence for the modification of dialect classification of modern spoken Faroese
- Cancel Culture in the Middle Ages
- Shining a Light on Eyvind Johnson’s Sidelined Novel, Nittonhundrasjutton
- Between the Map and the Terrain
- Reviews
- Philip Lavender: Long Lives of Short Sagas. The Irrepressibility of Narrative and the Case of Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra
- Klaus Düwel: Von Göttern, Helden und Gelehrten. Ausgewählte Scandinavica minora
- Giacomo Bernobi: Extemporierte Schriftlichkeit. Runische Graffiti
- Paloma Ortiz-de-Urbina (ed.): Germanic Myths in the Audiovisual Culture
- Stephan Michael Schröder: Literatur als Bellographie. Der Krieg von 1864 in der dänischen Literatur
- Guiliano D’Amico: Tilbake til fremtiden. Håkan Sandell og den nordiske retrogardismen
- Frederike Felcht: Die Regierung des Mangels. Hunger in den skandinavischen Literaturen 1830-1960
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Special Issue Articles
- Nordischer Klang 2021: Zur Ästhetik des nordischen Protestantismus
- Nature, Work, and Transcendence
- „Nulla dies sine linea“
- Articles
- Evidence for the modification of dialect classification of modern spoken Faroese
- Cancel Culture in the Middle Ages
- Shining a Light on Eyvind Johnson’s Sidelined Novel, Nittonhundrasjutton
- Between the Map and the Terrain
- Reviews
- Philip Lavender: Long Lives of Short Sagas. The Irrepressibility of Narrative and the Case of Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra
- Klaus Düwel: Von Göttern, Helden und Gelehrten. Ausgewählte Scandinavica minora
- Giacomo Bernobi: Extemporierte Schriftlichkeit. Runische Graffiti
- Paloma Ortiz-de-Urbina (ed.): Germanic Myths in the Audiovisual Culture
- Stephan Michael Schröder: Literatur als Bellographie. Der Krieg von 1864 in der dänischen Literatur
- Guiliano D’Amico: Tilbake til fremtiden. Håkan Sandell og den nordiske retrogardismen
- Frederike Felcht: Die Regierung des Mangels. Hunger in den skandinavischen Literaturen 1830-1960