Germanic culture influenced Christianity, not the other way around. The idea of a Christian recording a story of a pagan legend would seem to be contradiction, but understanding that Germanic fusion in England territories would be done around the seventh century. It is important to understand that Germanic societies came to terms with Christianity. Influenced literary works such as Beowulf creates a connection between early Christianity and its Germanic background. So to say that the targeted audience for this story would be Christian’s who were influenced heavily by Germanic Culture. Germanic religion and Christianity were not a philosophical religion when they met, but more of a national religion. Missionaries were forced to undermine the
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Those who followed the Germanic practice went about every day life following a base set of rules. Almost as a code. You do not see how Christianity takes place really within the beliefs of the Germanic but more so within the one thing they are missing. Beowulf contains a constant dark vibe throughout the story. The idea of hell is depicted during the scene where Beowulf enters the dragon 's cave (hell) and goes to combat with the dragon (Satan). Prior to Beowulf enterting the cave he says to his knights “I shall win the gold by my courage, or else mortal combat, doom of battle, will bear your lord away” (255-257). Here you see that Beowulf is not putting his faith into any god, as he relies only on himself. This same courage in warriors can be seen in other germanic literatures, such as Gregory of Tours. During the story Queen Clotilde has two of her and King Clovis’s children baptised under the name of god; the Christian god. After one dies and the other falls ill Clovis shows much disbelief in his wives God, stating that he cannot do anything right, and that he does not even know if Clotilde’s god belongs in the category of gods. King Clovis soon is conflicted with battle, and as soon as it seems as Clovis is going to lose, he looks up to the heavens and calls for Jesus Christ’s protection. Preceeding after Clovis’s cries for help all enemies turn and run away. Ending the …show more content…
Because Germanic culture was so dominant at this time Christianity had a very hard time persuading anybody to follow, and being such a new religion the idea of rejection was not good. So Christian missionaries wee forced to adapt, and downplay specific aspects of the religion to provide itself with an opportunity in the Germanic region during this time period. Even though Christianity was not the dominant belief in this area during this time period, you can see through many literary texts the role and ways christianity was used within this new adjusted Germanic culture. Literary works such as Beowulf do an amazing job of depicting Christianity within the German culture, and how Germanic culture is justified within Christianity due to the time period, and knowledge of those during this
Those who followed the Germanic practice went about every day life following a base set of rules. Almost as a code. You do not see how Christianity takes place really within the beliefs of the Germanic but more so within the one thing they are missing. Beowulf contains a constant dark vibe throughout the story. The idea of hell is depicted during the scene where Beowulf enters the dragon 's cave (hell) and goes to combat with the dragon (Satan). Prior to Beowulf enterting the cave he says to his knights “I shall win the gold by my courage, or else mortal combat, doom of battle, will bear your lord away” (255-257). Here you see that Beowulf is not putting his faith into any god, as he relies only on himself. This same courage in warriors can be seen in other germanic literatures, such as Gregory of Tours. During the story Queen Clotilde has two of her and King Clovis’s children baptised under the name of god; the Christian god. After one dies and the other falls ill Clovis shows much disbelief in his wives God, stating that he cannot do anything right, and that he does not even know if Clotilde’s god belongs in the category of gods. King Clovis soon is conflicted with battle, and as soon as it seems as Clovis is going to lose, he looks up to the heavens and calls for Jesus Christ’s protection. Preceeding after Clovis’s cries for help all enemies turn and run away. Ending the …show more content…
Because Germanic culture was so dominant at this time Christianity had a very hard time persuading anybody to follow, and being such a new religion the idea of rejection was not good. So Christian missionaries wee forced to adapt, and downplay specific aspects of the religion to provide itself with an opportunity in the Germanic region during this time period. Even though Christianity was not the dominant belief in this area during this time period, you can see through many literary texts the role and ways christianity was used within this new adjusted Germanic culture. Literary works such as Beowulf do an amazing job of depicting Christianity within the German culture, and how Germanic culture is justified within Christianity due to the time period, and knowledge of those during this