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Thread: Is Beowulf a Christian poem?

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    Is Beowulf a Christian poem?

    I enjoyed this article from Crisis. I'm familiar with the author. I've seen him on EWTN a few times speaking about the Lord of the Rings. Apparently, this is a fairly common interpretation of the poem but it was NEVER presented to me that way not even in Catholic school.

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    Structurally, the poem is divided sequentially by Beowulf’s fighting with three monsters: Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Dragon. The battle against the first two monsters is a parable of the necessity of God’s grace and the consequent rebuttal of the heresy of Pelagianism, which was rife in England at the time, as is evident from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People written at around the same time as Beowulf. Like Bede, the Beowulf poet is warning against the dangers of this heresy, which taught that men could go to heaven by the power of their own will, by merely doing what the Bible teaches, and that, therefore, they did not need the supernatural assistance which theologians call grace.

    https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/...-in-a-nutshell
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    I've always seen it as a transition from paganism to Christianity. The king in it is baptized.

    If the message is Christian the priests/monks are not treated very well. The witch is treated better.


    (The 2005 movie "Beowulf and Grendel" is on Amzon Prime if you subscribe.)
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    I've always seen it as a transition from paganism to Christianity. The king in it is baptized.

    If the message is Christian the priests/monks are not treated very well. The witch is treated better.


    (The 2005 movie "Beowulf and Grendel" is on Amzon Prime if you subscribe.)
    I only remember it (and vaguely at that) from high school and Night Creatures from Time Life Books. Remember that series from the 80s?

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...ight_Creatures

    Anyway, to your point, Pearce argues that the poem is really about the Pelagian Heresy that was still "lingering" in Anglo-Saxon England when Beowulf was written. Pelagious taught that Original Sin did not exist and that men could attain salvation through their own efforts. The Christians of the poem are likely not meant to be models.
    Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister D View Post
    I only remember it (and vaguely at that) from high school and Night Creatures from Time Life Books. Remember that series from the 80s?

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...ight_Creatures

    Anyway, to your point, Pearce argues that the poem is really about the Pelagian Heresy that was still "lingering" in Anglo-Saxon England when Beowulf was written. Pelagious taught that Original Sin did not exist and that men could attain salvation through their own efforts. The Christians of the poem are likely not meant to be models.

    To that point, as the story develops it was the king who killed Grendel's father and brought about his vengeance on the kingdom. The witch convinced Beowulf of the innocence of Grendel. The sea monster was just there until it too was killed. Only the monks were treated badly by the author as sort of crazy people--the converts were good people. That's the movie version.

    I've read it a few times, first in a college class focused on learning the language, at least to read it around, and not any themes. I don't doubt there are "contemporary" themes underlying the narrative of the past.
    Last edited by Chris; 11-10-2021 at 09:52 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister D View Post
    I enjoyed this article from Crisis. I'm familiar with the author. I've seen him on EWTN a few times speaking about the Lord of the Rings. Apparently, this is a fairly common interpretation of the poem but it was NEVER presented to me that way not even in Catholic school.

    ---

    Snip

    Structurally, the poem is divided sequentially by Beowulf’s fighting with three monsters: Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Dragon. The battle against the first two monsters is a parable of the necessity of God’s grace and the consequent rebuttal of the heresy of Pelagianism, which was rife in England at the time, as is evident from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People written at around the same time as Beowulf. Like Bede, the Beowulf poet is warning against the dangers of this heresy, which taught that men could go to heaven by the power of their own will, by merely doing what the Bible teaches, and that, therefore, they did not need the supernatural assistance which theologians call grace.

    https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/...-in-a-nutshell
    It's been years since I read Beowolf, but your OP has heightened my curiosity and I just downloaded a copy.
    ""A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul" ~George Bernard Shaw

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    Here's a movie, from the looks of it the one I watched recently. Free download.

    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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    History channel take on story...

    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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