Odin Not Christ, an AH Speculation

[JoanDrake]

What if instead of Christianity becoming the major religion of the West it had been the Norse religion of the Vikings? While it seems apparent that the Vikings were not that religious, and/or didn't proselytize, what if they had been, and had decided to spread their religion with their raids and invasions of various European nations in the latter part of the early Middle ages? (and it was the one that caught on)

 

[Nick B]

We would have a society that promotes self reliance instead of dependency.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Worship of Odin would almost certainly have changed and become customised to better reflect and assimilate those cultures it was spread into - so what we'd see today almost certainly would never directly connect with any original interpretation from the Northmen where it only served Scandanvian cultures.

 

[Nick B]

Good answer Brian. I still think it would lean toward being self reliant over christianity's more group dependancy leanings.
Don't forget that the pre-christian saxon and germanic tribes religions were basicaly extensions of Odinism, Woden, Wodan and Wotan are all effectively Odin, so it did spread much further than scandinavia.

 

[HareBrain]

I keep seeing the thread title as beginning "Christ, not Odin!" as though someone had opened the door to find a sinister one-eyed traveller.

Woden, Wodan and Wotan are all effectively Odin, so it did spread much further than scandinavia.

Did it spread from Scandinavia to Germany, or the other way round? Or did it develop in both simultaneously?

I don't know that it would be easy to proselytise, anyway. Like most religions, it developed as a response to a particular geography, climate, character etc, and as Brian says, would have had to change quite markedly to be attractive to other peoples who had their own locally developed religions already. It doesn't offer anything as radical as Christianity's promise of universal salvation (just a load of squabbling gods and forthcoming disaster), yet even with this, Christianity had to adapt quite a lot to fit in with local cultures.

 

[Nick B]

Christianity didn't so much adapt as assimilate though. Take for instance chrismas itself, most of the traditions surrounding it are taken from northern festivals.
Odinism was/is a much looser religion, less about worship than about way of life I suppose. The legends and myths didn't always portray the gods in a fantastic light.

And, as for forthcoming disaster, well the bible is pretty good on that count too. Ragnarok ends with the world sinking in water, then rising back up for the cycle to begin anew, with two humans to restart humanity. Sound familiar?

 

[HareBrain]

Christianity didn't so much adapt as assimilate though.

Bah, your words more good.

And, as for forthcoming disaster, well the bible is pretty good on that count too. Ragnarok ends with the world sinking in water, then rising back up for the cycle to begin anew, with two humans to restart humanity. Sound familiar?

The Bible's version isn't a disaster if you're one of the virtuous (or whatever they're called). I'm a little shaky on both, but I'm pretty sure that in Revelation, all the virtuous are saved for ever, whereas after Ragnarok, even if the world restarts, none of the inhabitants of the previous one do. So as a matter of individual survival, I think the first would trump the second in the attractiveness stakes.

 

[Nick B]

So as a matter of individual survival, I think the first would trump the second in the attractiveness stakes.

But the entry requirements for Valhalla are so much more fun!

 

[HareBrain]

But the entry requirements for Valhalla are so much more fun!

Remember -- attempts at religious conversion are not allowed on this site.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I still think it would lean toward being self reliant over christianity's more group dependancy leanings.

I'm not so sure - IMO we would still have ended up with a God-King who demanded subservience, whomever the figure was. IMO we see this whenever religion moves away from tribal systems where blood-ties maintain loyalty, to nation-states where law and a central ruler demand social control.