The Conversion of Scandinavia

The Conversion of Scandinavia
ISBN-10
0300178093
ISBN-13
9780300178098
Category
Religion
Pages
256
Language
English
Published
2012-01-24
Publisher
Yale University Press
Author
Anders Winroth

Description

In this book a MacArthur Award-winning scholar argues for a radically new interpretation of the conversion of Scandinavia from paganism to Christianity in the early Middle Ages. Overturning the received narrative of Europe's military and religious conquest and colonization of the region, Anders Winroth contends that rather than acting as passive recipients, Scandinavians converted to Christianity because it was in individual chieftains' political, economic, and cultural interests to do so. Through a painstaking analysis and historical reconstruction of both archeological and literary sources, and drawing on scholarly work that has been unavailable in English, Winroth opens up new avenues for studying European ascendency and the expansion of Christianity in the medieval period.

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