The Heliand: The Saxon Gospel

Rating:
Summary: Germanic paganism interprets Christianity
Review: "The Heliand has a unique aura in the history of world literature. Its contemplative integration of Northern-European magic, sooth-saying, wizardry, fatalistic warrior virtues, personal mysticism, and the Christian gospel story give it a compelling power and charm. The Heliand was written in Old Saxon over a thousand years ago in the first half of the ninth century by an author whose mysterious identity has remained unknown. Whoever he was, he was an enormously gifted religious poet capable of profound intercultural communication. He rewrote and reimagined the events and words of the gospel as if they had taken place and been spoken in his own country and time, in the chieftain society of a defeated people, forcibly Christianized by Charlemagne: the Saxons. By the power of his imagination the unknown poet-monk (perhaps ex-warrior) created a unique cultural synthesis between Christianity and warrior-society -- a synthesis that would ultimately lead to the culture of knighthood and become the foundation of medieval Europe." --From the introduction to "The Heliand: The Saxon Gospel"

Rating:
Summary: Germanic paganism interprets Christianity
Review: "The Heliand has a unique aura in the history of world literature. Its contemplative integration of Northern-European magic, sooth-saying, wizardry, fatalistic warrior virtues, personal mysticism, and the Christian gospel story give it a compelling power and charm. The Heliand was written in Old Saxon over a thousand years ago in the first half of the ninth century by an author whose mysterious identity has remained unknown. Whoever he was, he was an enormously gifted religious poet capable of profound intercultural communication. He rewrote and reimagined the events and words of the gospel as if they had taken place and been spoken in his own country and time, in the chieftain society of a defeated people, forcibly Christianized by Charlemagne: the Saxons. By the power of his imagination the unknown poet-monk (perhaps ex-warrior) created a unique cultural synthesis between Christianity and warrior-society -- a synthesis that would ultimately lead to the culture of knighthood and become the foundation of medieval Europe." --From the introduction to "The Heliand: The Saxon Gospel"