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Dr. Samuel Sinner
Thoughts on Various Popular Misconceptions among Some Modern Asatru Followers

A man to be pitied, with an evil nature,
Is he who ridicules everything,
Unaware of the most important thing:
He is not without faults of his own.

Hбvamбl 22
Introduction

The comments below are not meant to criticize all Asatru organizations, or even all members of any such groups. They are directed at only some ideas of some modern followers of Asatru, and certainly not at Asatru itself. These observations are offered only as one scholar's concerns about certain pseudo-scientific aspects of various modern versions of historical reconstruction of the religions of ancient Indo-European, Germanic, Scandinavian, and related groups.

Polytheism romantically idealized and presented as tolerant as opposed to monotheism demonized as intolerant

The fact is that persecution for religious-political reasons has never been limited to monotheistic religions. Ancient Romans murdered thousands of Christians for not sacrificing to the state gods. As the nightly news not infrequently informs us, some modern radical "polytheistic" Hindus commit terrorism and murder in the name of religion, murdering monotheistic Muslims and Christians. In medieval Scandinavia, Christians were economically penalized for not being pagans. These observations are not at all intended to deny the atrocious human rights abuse record of the Catholic Church throughout world history, but only to offer some balance and perspective on the issue of religious tolerance and intolerance.

Scandinavian Paganism presented as fundamentally anti-Christian

Medieval Asatru was often ecumenical and eclectic. Pagan jewelers made Thor's hammers and Christian crosses from the same mold. For photographic documentation, see Thomas A. DuBois, Nordic Religions in the Viking Age (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), page 160, figure 4. We know that some Germanic pagan priests worshipped Odin and Christ alongside each other, seeing no contradiction whatsoever between the two. Moreover, seiрr was borrowed by medieval Asatru from the Finnish people, a group of utterly non-Indo-European descent. Modern scholarship increasingly argues that ancient Indo-European and Near Eastern peoples and cultures interacted with each other to the point that each influenced the other's myths and religions. Near Eastern Gilgamesh influenced Homer and the Rigveda, both of which are of Indo-European descent. The Indo-Europeans borrowed from or at least shared the practice of sacrifice with the Near Eastern peoples--even human sacrifice, a taboo subject among some modern Asatru followers. Cultural interaction and principled syncretism constitute a normal dynamic in world history. There is no such thing as a "pure" European religion, since at some of the earliest stages of their history, European ancestors had already absorbed fundamentally non-European elements into their myths, religion, language, etc.

Asatru adaptations of Christian ideas and practices

Some modern Asatru groups require a membership oath of renunciation of Christianity, and sometimes of all other religions. That is nothing other than adopting and reformulating the traditional Christian oath denouncing paganism. Many modern Asatru followers condemn kneeling or bowing to the gods in prayer. That is a purely anti-Christian reaction, which incidentally overlooks the fact that Eastern rite Christians stand in prayer to show respect, in contrast to Western Catholics who kneel in prayer for the same occasions. Archaeological artifacts prove that ancient Germanic peoples bowed and kneeled in prayer. In the Bibliothиque National of Paris, there is preserved a Roman bronze figure of an ancient Germanic pagan praying, not standing, but kneeling, and with arms and head lifted up towards heaven. A photograph and commentary on the bronze figure are available in the scholarly study of R. L. M. Derolez, Gцtter und Mythen der Germanen (Einsiedeln/Zьrich/Kцln: Benziger Verlag, 1963), page 225 and illustration number 27 between pages 240 and 241. Some modern Asatru followers condemn even the idea of sin, whereas scholarship demonstrates that the ancient Germanic peoples had the same concept of sin and of propitiating the gods by sacrifice possessed by the Near Eastern and Semitic peoples, not to mention other Indo-European descent groups (cf. the Hindu Rigveda, Zoroastrian scriptures, Greek and Roman religion, etc.). We know from the historical accounts of Sigvat from ca. 1019 that the Scandinavian pagans feared the wrath of Odin should they displease him. On the latter point, one may consult the classic study of former Professor of Ancient Icelandic at the University of Oxford, E. O. G. Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North. The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia (NY/Chicago/San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), 230-31.

Those modern Asatru followers who want a monolithic creed are again imitating the Catholic Church. In ancient times, pagan religion was typified by a rich diversity of local variations. There was no national organization overseeing or legislating the cults of each family or hof. But though there was unity in diversity, not unity in uniformity, nevertheless, that didn't mean there was never any religious animosity between various hofs, families, or regions.

Despite the fact that even ancient pagans had dogmas (see below), absolutizing symbolic systems by formulating and then requiring adherence to set Asatru creeds is a Christian influence upon certain sectors of some modern Asatru groups. There is no reason why Asatru could not simultaneously condemn the history of the Catholic Church's human rights abuses and also be ecumenical and recognize that the divine is worshipped in all religions under different names and in different ways, whether those systems be monotheistic, henotheistic, or polytheistic. This by no means implies that one religion's beliefs should be forced upon another religion. There will never be complete agreement about anything in this world, and in some matters that is perhaps for the best. But for the sake of the peaceful societal coexistence of peoples of varying religious affiliations and for the promotion of world peace, would it not be wise for both modern monotheists and pagans to abandon and leave behind ancient mutual hatreds? A religion that defines itself by what it is not, by what is wrong in another religion, will only with great difficulty be able to form a positive self-identity based upon what is good, attractive, and enchanting in its own system of beliefs. No great world religion should be condemned as such. Religions are generally noble in themselves. It is usually a religion's hierarchy members that oppress other religions and indeed not infrequently persecutes their own members. And that could theoretically apply to Asatru and Christianity alike, in different ways of course.

A few modern Asatru followers have argued that modern physics, which stresses a "multi-verse" instead of a "uni-verse," supports polytheism against monotheism. But the anti-monotheistic "physics" argument is invalid because modern physics argues that all the multiplicity of forces are ultimately one, as in Einstein's Grand Unified Field Theory. In any event, to bring physics into the debate on monotheism and polytheism seems somewhat questionable to begin with. Indeed, many modern pagans view the entire cosmos holistically as a unified, interconnected and organic whole, as a single entity, as in the Rigveda's concept of the Universal Man, or Purusha. What could be legitimately argued is that the One has many faces or manifestations, which may all be embraced within each cultural-specific context, and all symbolic systems deserve to be respected in an ecumenical manner, and rightly protected from any unprincipled syncretism that would attempt to water down any of the various forms of the individual world religions.

"Pagans knew no concept of sin and had no dogma, priesthood, intolerance, or ecumenism."

In one of the standard textbooks on mythology, Mark P. O. Morford and Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology. 2nd ed. (NY/London: Longman, 1977), the authors rightly observe that the god of Solon, as portrayed by Herodotus, "is not unlike the wrathful deity of the Old Testament" (78). The same textbook correctly exposes as falsehoods the assertions that ancient Greek pagans did not have a "strict dogma," no concept of sin, and that their polytheism made them completely tolerant in religious matters (cf. 89). As Morford and Lenardon remind us, Homer was accorded a semi-biblical status, akin to Shakespeare's role as "scripture" in literary "humanism" today; the mystery cults required strict adherence to "dogma and ritual"; and Hesiod held that his writings were "divine revelation with a vehement biblical authority" (90). Greek paganism had a sacerdotal class and the state was maintained "by custom, tradition, and strict moral and ethical codes of behavior" (ibid.). Moreover, the accounts of resistance to the novel cult of Dionysius demonstrate that polytheism is not necessarily typified by religious tolerance, "and one could be put to death (in Athens of all places) on a charge of impiety" (ibid.). Indeed, the Greeks "thought profoundly about . . . the meaning and consequences of vice and virtue" (ibid.). The description in the myth of Er of the torments of hell and the beauties of heaven are equal to such descriptions in several "of the so-called higher religions" (ibid.).

Additional similar evidence of the pseudo-scientific nature of some modern reconstructions of pagan religion is not lacking. The Greek pagan Orphic cults were led by a theologian or "prophet (theologus) who with his priests and disciples committed to writing holy words (hieroi logoi) that provided a bible for dogma, ritual, and behavior" (ibid., 275). According to some ancient stories, the prophet Orpheus was killed "because of a conspiracy of his countrymen, who would not accept his teachings" (ibid.). Some ancient accounts suggest that Orpheus' murder was the result of rivalries between his own religious cult and that of Dionysius (ibid.).

No one denies that the Greeks also placated or appeased the deities by means of sacrifices. Concepts of salvation from sin and resurrecting gods are deeply rooted in the pagan Greek mystery religions. From this angle, Christianity is eminently congruous with the religions of the Indo-European descent groups, for though it has Semitic, Jewish roots historically, it later adopted Greek, Roman, and Germanic (especially) Gothic pagan thought, manners, and ethos. Indeed, who could deny the similarity between the Church's teachings and the Greek pagan Orphic concepts of sacred scripture, the body as a prison of matter, some sort of original sin concept, post mortem blessings for the righteous and penalties for the unrighteous, and purifying flames that lead the soul finally to union with God in the heavens? (cf. ibid., 278-79). Not to deny the historical accounts of conversion by the sword, such extensive parallels between the Church and paganism nevertheless help explain, to a certain extent at least, the success of Christianity among ancient heathens. That we hear of pagans who worshipped Odin or Thor alongside Christ also shows us the compatibility, from some pagans' viewpoints, between heathenism and Christianity.

Some Asatru "clergy" have argued that praying to the deities or lower spirits to intervene in human affairs is a form of degenerate magic which originated from the Church, and as a Christian influence, should be rejected by Asatru. This assertion exhibits a blatant ignorance of the history of religions. Such "forcing" of the gods or of God to intervene in or to change the course of worldly events at the individual or societal level through prayer, sacrifices, or incantations is by no means restricted to Christianity, but is a well-nigh universal phenomenon in ancient and modern world religions, including medieval Scandinavian paganism's intercessory runic inscriptions, sacrifices, and petitioning of the gods and lower spirits.

Regarding the fact that the ancient Germanic and medieval Scandinavian peoples, like other Indo-European descent groups in general, had, with regional variations of course, an elite sacerdotal class of priests and priestesses, which is often denied in some sectors of modern Asatru, one can simply consult the following standard scholarly works on the question to discover the facts:

R. L. M. Derolez, Gцtter und Mythen der Germanen (Einsiedeln/Zьrich/Kцln: Benziger Verlag, 1963), 234-40.

Ernst Alfred Philippson, Germanisches Heidentum bei den Angelsachsen (Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1929), 180-93.

E. O. G. Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North. The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia (NY/Chicago/San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), 260-63.

"Picking and choosing" from Norse mythological texts

At times, some modern Asatru followers will reject any part of the Edda or Norse mythology in general that does not agree with their preconceived ideas of Asatru religious reconstruction or with their own personal morality by labeling such passages nothing other than "Christian influence." Regarding marital faithfulness, when the Vцluspб (strophe 45) condemns adultery, this does not reflect a Christian influence upon medieval Scandinavian paganism. Consider, in Greek mythology Hera's anger at Zeus' infidelity. The same goes for the Norse myth of the Giant Bergelmir escaping a primordial deluge of blood with his household (cf Vafюruрnirmбl strophe 35 and Snorri Edda chapters 7-8). The Edda story is merely an independent version of an ancient Near Eastern story about a great primordial deluge and was not "invented" in imitation of the biblical story of Noah. This Near Eastern story influenced the Indo-Europeans long before the Book of Genesis was even written. That a similar story was known in ancient Jewish sources, for example in Genesis 6, the Book of Enoch, and various midrashic legends that tell of a deluge that wiped out all the Giants save one named Og, these parallels by no means establish literary dependence of the Edda on the Bible. Both were mutually and independently influenced by ancient Near Eastern deluge stories.

"Picking and choosing" religious adversaries

One Asatru web site I have viewed confesses that Judaism is a valid religion, but that any religion teaching incarnation of the divine is a "cult." The reference is obviously to Christianity. But this claim first of all overlooks the fact that Christianity is merely an ancient version of Judaism. Secondly, the idea of divine incarnation is far more prevalent in Hinduism than in Christianity, and Hinduism is just as Indo-European a religion as is Asatru. Hinduism is certainly a valid world religion, and by no means a "cult" in any pejorative sense of the word whatsoever. Hinduism teaches that several humans have been incarnations of various deities, in contrast to the Church, which usually reserves incarnation solely for Jesus--though Thomas Aquinas clearly teaches that it is possible for other divine incarnations beyond Jesus Christ. In Egyptian religion, the ruler was considered the embodiment, which means the same as "incarnation," of the deity Horus. Many other pagan societies have considered the king as a divine embodiment or incarnation.

The same web site under discussion claims that pagans see the world as good, whereas Christianity views matter negatively. This statement seems utterly unaware of the fact that Christianity, being Jewish in its origins, shared with Judaism the belief that all creation is good, in accordance with Genesis 1. Members of the Church never viewed the body or matter negatively until Christianity adopted philosophical ideas from pagan Greek Neoplatonism.

Lastly, the same web site argues that any religion founded by an individual instead of the "folk" is a false religion. This is yet another veiled reference to Christianity. But Zoroastrianism and Buddhism are two Indo-European religions, and both were founded by individuals, Zoroaster (Zarathustra), and Siddhartha, known as the Buddha. Perhaps the authors of the web site under discussion seem unaware of the fact that Zoroastrianism and Buddhism are Indo-European religions. The Zoroastrian scriptures are written in Avestan, and the Buddhist scriptures are written in Pali, and both are Indo-European languages, as even a cursory reference to any standard English dictionary will reveal. Moreover, Judaism, acknowledged by the site as a valid religion, was also founded by an individual named Abraham (some would say Moses, or even later, King Josiah). It appears that some modern Asatru followers pick and choose based on historical ignorance and religious prejudice which world religions they decide to declare and pontificate upon as "false" or as "cults."

Reconstructing pagan beliefs from "semi-pagan" literature

In a recent study, Nordic Religions in the Viking Age (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), Thomas A. Dubois correctly emphasizes some of the fundamental errors of previous scholarship's almost "archaeological" dissection of the Norse or Icelandic sagas, and its approaching the texts as if they could be divided between "earlier pagan" and "later Christian" elements (cf. 205). In this way, older authorities "ignored the intricacies of the Christianity they sought to bracket, its own changing and pluralistic nature" (ibid.). The story of the conversion to Christianity entailed not only conflict, but also continuity. The sagas are, in short, thoroughly Christian compositions that do not seek to erase all traces of paganism, but which endeavor to preserve pagan ideas in a new era transformed through intercultural contact.

As Karen Louise Jolly argues in her study, Popular Religion in Late Saxon England. Elf Charms in Context (Chapel Hill/London: University of North Carolina Hill, 1996), that what older scholarship referred to as "semi-pagan" Anglo-Saxon texts, such as Elf charms, and stories of Odin mingled with Christ, similarly do not consist of "earlier pagan" and "later Christian" layers artificially or haphazardly thrown together. Such texts were instead "integrated wholes" (170). They are thoroughly Christian compositions which exhibit Christian pluralism. The same could be said of Beowulf. Such literary works were not covert "survivals" of paganism composed by simple peasants out of the reach of the Church's influence, because the authors of the works in question were "undoubtedly members of clerical communities" (ibid.). Jolly also holds that Anglo-Saxon paganism and Christianity were so compatible because they shared a common Greco-Roman or Mediterranean worldview, especially in the areas related to Elf charms and medicine.

Samuel D. Sinner

Copyright © 2004, 2005 by Samuel D. Sinner