In Icelandic culture, Christianity seemed to be a stabilizing force. The people didn’t have much in terms of something that was unifying and held the culture together which was why they were living in a constantly changing landscape. Both Egil’s Saga and Njal’s Saga have some illustrations of this idea and give us a clue as to why Christianity acted as a stabilizing force for their ways of life. When a people are unified under one belief or set of laws or a general way of life, it becomes much easier to remain stable and out of much internal conflict—it’s just logic and the nature of things. In the case of the Icelandic people, Christianity was the great balancer. In Njal’s Saga, it is clear that having multiple customs and codes of
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Although Christianity has been in England for a while now, King Athelstan is the guy in this story who is seen as the one who practices Christianity most strongly—but as the king you might have to be. In England, Christianity seems to play the role of a unifying force as well as an entity that helps operations run smoothly because most people are on the same page. For example, when King Athelstan learns that Olaf has brought people to England and invaded a large chunk of it, Athelstan just knew what to do and didn’t have to worry about figuring out what heathens would prefer as a course of action versus what Christians might have preferred. The author writes, “All this when Athelstan learned, he summoned to conference his captains and his counsellors; he inquired of them what were best to do; he told the whole council point by point what he had ascertained about the doings of the Scots' king and his numbers. But the plan resolved on was this, that king Athelstan should go back to the south of England, and then for himself hold a levy of troops, coming northwards through the whole land; for they saw that the only way for the needful numbers to be levied in time was for the king himself to gather the force,” (52). The English definitely had this figured out before Iceland did—they understood that Christianity was what could help keep things running smoothly but also unify a country and bring a cease to intense disagreements on matters of the
Although Christianity has been in England for a while now, King Athelstan is the guy in this story who is seen as the one who practices Christianity most strongly—but as the king you might have to be. In England, Christianity seems to play the role of a unifying force as well as an entity that helps operations run smoothly because most people are on the same page. For example, when King Athelstan learns that Olaf has brought people to England and invaded a large chunk of it, Athelstan just knew what to do and didn’t have to worry about figuring out what heathens would prefer as a course of action versus what Christians might have preferred. The author writes, “All this when Athelstan learned, he summoned to conference his captains and his counsellors; he inquired of them what were best to do; he told the whole council point by point what he had ascertained about the doings of the Scots' king and his numbers. But the plan resolved on was this, that king Athelstan should go back to the south of England, and then for himself hold a levy of troops, coming northwards through the whole land; for they saw that the only way for the needful numbers to be levied in time was for the king himself to gather the force,” (52). The English definitely had this figured out before Iceland did—they understood that Christianity was what could help keep things running smoothly but also unify a country and bring a cease to intense disagreements on matters of the