Role Of Christianity In Beowulf

Throughout the story of Beowulf, the concept of religion plays a significant role. The Christianity ideology views state that man can survive and do great things through the protection of God. A strong desire of pride is also represented in the form of a hero in Beowulf, which in a sense goes against Christian morals. This clash with Christian morals in Beowulf was in the context of pride vs. humility and selfishness vs. sacrifice. In the book, Hrothgar first explained to Beowulf that pride without humility will only kill him. Beowulf struggles to find his roots as a follower of God, as well as maintaining his views and actions of Paganism.

   The Christian influences in Beowulf ultimately came from the Christian/Catholic Church of Rome which converted Romans, and thereby the Roman legions and thereby the occupied provinces. Also the Christian/Catholic Bishop of Rome sent missionary priests and monks to the British Isles to proselytze the population. There are additional considerations too.

Christianity is shown through Beowulf being like Christ in his sacrifice and deeds. Although Beowulf was not the Son of God, and Christ was not the most powerful warrior in the world, there are many similarities between the two. Both Beowulf and Christ give up their lives to save everyone: “Seeing him stretched on the ground … A torn and bloody corpse. But Beowulf’s Killer was dead, too,” (Line 2823\ Line 2825) This parallels Christ dying to save humanity from sin. The dragon is symbolic of the devil because in the same way that Christ defeats the Devil through his sacrifice, Beowulf defeats the dragon through his sacrifice. There are other symbolic parallels between Christ and Beowulf like the twelve apostles and the twelve mourning Geats: “And then twelve of the bravest Geats Rode their horses around the tower, Telling their sorrow, telling stories Of their dead king and his greatness…”(Line 3169\

In the religious aspect of Beowulf, there are two categories for the Anglo-Saxons religion, Paganism and Christianity and in this story there are many ways that they correspond with these religions. Paganism, an example for this would be when Grendel invaded the towns looking for omens, which is food or him taking something from the town and its people. Christianity, an example of this would be how Beowulf and his men prayed to God and they thanked him a lot due to all of the battles and them hoping for a safe voyage when they had

The people of the middle ages lived their lives with a multitude of worries. Epic poems like Beowulf helped to ease the minds of these people by implementing two important themes: religion and courageousness. The poems use of religion helped listeners of the poem to increase their faith in the Holy Father as someone to protect and keep them. The poem also uses the courageous exploits of the hero Beowulf as an inspiration for them to be more courageous in their own lives.

The character Aldred who is 20 years old and his cousin Alfred in medieval Anglian kingdom in the seventh century, were Alfred has committed a crime by killing someone. Alfred and his family will have to pay a huge amount of compensation as a punishment of the crime. Due the punishments made by the kings no residence of northumbria would think of violating the rules. This punishments helped to reduce the crimes happening in northumbria. Northumbria was ruled by many kings. Also the people of northumbria did not follow a particular religion. The region of Northumbria history has continued to revolt against the government for crime and justice, religion, and origin of Northumbria territory and Anglo Saxon.

All throughout history there have been examples of religion and other teachings being displayed through literature. During the settlement, Christian missionaries spread the word of Christianity to the Natives through text. According to an article, “their professed goal was to spread the gospels throughout the Americas”. The influence of religion on the Native people was intended to convert them from their “savage” way of living to a more civilized and religious one. The poem Beowulf, was translated by Christian monks to spread the word of Christianity, and to convert the old practice of Paganism. The monks, much like the Christian missionaries, used literature to speak to the people in that transitional time period. By using a heroic figure, the monks were able to influence the Pagans into following the word of God through the spokesman of a hero (Clark).

Beowulf is a legend told since 500 A.D. that originated in Scandinavia. During the 500s time period, many beliefs and values among the Danes and the Geats were influenced by Anglo-Saxons, the great conquerors at the time. Anglo-Saxons believed in Christian beliefs and some pagan beliefs as well. Throughout the epic poem, Beowulf, one can gain the knowledge of how the Anglo-Saxons were through literary devices about their religions.

Beowulf could be Christ when trying to help people from the evil and show them all signs of

Christian faith is very much a part of Beowulf’s author, whose faith embodies the work. Many of the epic’s monsters and demons can be referenced back to the Bible. Grendel, his mother, and other monsters are descendants of “Cain’s clan, whom God had condemned for being the first murderer; consequently causing for his kin to suffer the same fate as Cain. God made it clear to Cain that he would restlessly wander the Earth as his punishment, and so his descendants did “haunting the marches / marauding round the heath / and the desolate fens” (Heaney 5). These fabricated characters, “the powerful men of old, the famous men,” are the offspring of those angels expunged from heaven “when the sons of God came to the daughters of man” (Gen. 6:4). By creating this great lineage in Beowulf’s monsters, these “smiths of woe” (Chaney 206) strike fear into the hearts and minds of those hearken the scop’s epic. With the help of these myths, people began to create the idea that Christianity might be their only form of defense against Grendel-like monsters. Mainly causing for believers of these demons to turn their devotion to God, because only through him would they be

Beowulf started as an oral tradition, passed down from generation to generation until translated into written form by a Christian monk. Therefore, the values, culture, and traditions from the ancient times mix with the new Christian values and melt with other cultures to create the Anglo-Saxon society. In this piece, the Anglo-Saxon culture is revealed through the depiction of the values Christianity, loyalty, and bravery. Though once a pagan culture, the Anglo-Saxons were brought the message of Christianity by the Romans and blended those beliefs into their culture.

Written by a christian poet, the epic of Beowulf clearly outlines that failure to avenge an assault is considered shameful. However, Christian values say to just “turn the other cheek”. It is interesting how this epic poem can have both values at once, because of their clearly cut out contradictions. Throughout the epic of Beowulf, Christian philosophy is represented in many ways, like how God protects them from being killed, how God provides them with everything they need in life. However, there is also a strong, contradicting sense of pageanism and heroic code displayed by Beowulf which is mostly conflicting with christianity.

There are several references to God and Christianity in Beowulf. For example, when Hrothgar says that Grendel cannot touch the throne because it is protected by God (Beowulf: A pagan Christian fusion) Then there are instances when Beowulf acknowledges God. Beowulf admits that without the help of God he could have never defeated Grendel’s Mother (Beowulf:A pagan Christian fusion) The way he killed Grendel and Grendel’s Mother suggests that he called on a higher power to defeat the monster. First he is just a regular human being and then he rips Grendel’s arm off and kills him. What normal human being could do that without the help of God. Then he travels to the lair of Grendel and Grendel’s mother to try and kill his mother and end the suffering of Hrothgar and his people for good. He travels there and kills grendel’s mother with a giants sword (The war against monsters) He killed both of them, but only with the help of

As an originally Germanic oral epic, Beowulf contains many virtues that constitute a society defined by heroic influences. These overwhelmingly Pagan virtues, including honor, loyalty and perseverance sometimes extend to Christianity, but often contradicts it. A good example of this is the virtue of physical strength and honor through battle which in Christian teaching would be seen as unnecessary or even sinful. The author most likely used this piece to spread Christianity through Pagan culture, but in the process, he has diluted what is truly Christian in this story. The contradictory themes of Paganism and Christianity in Beowulf serve to dilute the Christian ideals promoted by the poem’s author.

The next area that Christianity played a role in the poem is with the life of Beowulf all together. The life being related to Jesus as mentioned before him and his 12 companions to him telling them not to follow him. The role starts with Beowulf himself and his relation to Jesus. The two of them can in most cases be called heroes. Both surprisingly for their virtuous sprits and belief in faith. Beowulf through the story does many honorable deeds in saving people and slaying monsters; about the same as what Jesus had been doing. The point I am trying to make is that even with all these deeds Beowulf eventually dies. This in return shows how a Christian should perceive their life. That even with the al giving God and savior death in coming and