Are there any Christian denominations that incorporate Odinism?
score:5
We don't know as much about the German religion as the Greek and Roman ones, because the Germans used less permanent materials in their society, and didn't really write things down. What we have regarding them now is whatever Romans and Greeks decided to write down, and whatever elements were, as you pointed out, incorpated into the culture after Christianization.
"Odinism" is polytheistic, while Christianity is ruthlessly monotheistic. At most a Christian could believe that the German gods were demons misleading people, or angels whose message was misunderstood. Most just say they were idols, or, for those like C. S. Lewis and G. K. Chesterton, saw the myths as factually false, but true in that they revealed a need of the human heart, a need that was fulfilled by Christ. Just as a boy might daydream about what his future wife might be like, and then later on in life meet her in reality, so the pagan myth makers were daydreaming about their Bridegroom, who they met Him for real by the Incarnation. For more detail regarding this, I highly, highly, recommend reading G. K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man, especially the chapter "Man and Mythologies," which is one of the best essays he has ever written. You can find it here: http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/everlasting_man.html#chap-I-v*
There are many elements of German belief in our society that were incorpated into culture practiced by later Christians. For example, our English weekday calendar, except for Saturday (who is a Roman god), are all Anglo-Saxon deities. The name "Easter" refers to the Old English name for the month of April, who was a fertility goddess (just as April is itself named after the Greek fertility goddess Aphrodite). Santa Clause might be based on an Old Norse legend involving Odin/Wodin. Just because things were pagan, doesn't make them wrong per se, because paganism is the religion of humanity, or at least of a fallen humanity. When Christ came, He didn't come to reject all of paganism, for that would be to reject humanity. Rather, He, and the Church, took what was good, and rejected what was bad, based on the doctrines of faith, just as the Israelites savaged the spoils from Egypt. The spoils weren't wrong and evil per se, they were just in the hands of the pagans and the evildoers.
Think about it. The New Testament is written in common Greek, a language created by pagans and used by pagans. Do you really think the Apostles should have rejected the pagan language just because it was pagan?
Christi pax.
*Here's an audio recording: https://archive.org/details/EverlastingMan (pick Book I, Chapter V). I got all this from this website ultimately: http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/index.html
Upvote:4
No, with the exception of a few minor customs and traditions, for example, the Midsummer's festival just past which is widely celebrated in parts of Scandinavia, and some extraneous civil details, such as the use of names of some of the days of, the week in English deriving from the names of some of the figures in the odinist pantheon, there are no Christian denominations that incorporate very much else from Odinism into Christianity. The essential characteristic of Odinism is polytheism, and as such is inherently incompatible with the staunch monotheism of Christianity.
More post
- 📝 What was the purpose of creating the world?
- 📝 Who documented biblical events before Moses?
- 📝 What is the Lutheran view of he atonement of Christ on the cross?
- 📝 What is the scriptural basis for "Love God and do whatever you please"?
- 📝 How can we understand the SDA interpretation of Daniel 9:26?
- 📝 Creation vs Evolution
- 📝 What Bible passage does this $1,000,000 dollar bill reference?
- 📝 Verse that says that he who cannot govern himself cannot govern others?
- 📝 What's the new rite in Tantum Ergo?
- 📝 Is there a canon law for what to do if a hostage situation breaks out while consecrating the Eucharist?
- 📝 Is it to say: "We can have reasonable hope that all will be saved" heretical?
- 📝 Is Hell a physical place in mainstream Christianity?
- 📝 What does 'orthodox' mean, in practice?
- 📝 When, and by whom, did what we now call Easter Sunday first become known as Resurrection Sunday?
- 📝 What is the significance of Daniel's Ch.10:4 vision date?
- 📝 Is a Roman Catholic obligated to believe in the Trinity?
- 📝 Homilies during liturgical seasons?
- 📝 Who signed the 1982 Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics?
- 📝 Are Angels more accessible than Jesus?
- 📝 Which book of Scripture is most esteemed by the LDS church?
- 📝 What is the basis for translating the serpent in Gen. 3 as a being of light?
- 📝 When was it claimed for the first time that Christians could "pray in tongues" in private for self-edification?
- 📝 What Pagan elements were adopted in christianity?
- 📝 What Bible verses support Monasticism?
- 📝 Reward in Heaven? What is it? (Catholic)
- 📝 How does the LDS church explain billions of people being saved over almost 2000 years without the church needing to be restored?
- 📝 What's the difference between resurrection and reincarnation?
- 📝 Why would God permit divorce because of Israel's "hardness of heart"?
- 📝 When talking about the Trinity, what does "persons" mean?
- 📝 Is a Roman Catholic allowed by Church law to receive sacraments from other Churches in full communion with Rome?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that incorporate Odinism?
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that consider LDS (Mormons) to be Christians?
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that don't believe Jesus is the only way to salvation?
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that deny the existence of an afterlife?
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that believe in sex and marriage in the afterlife?
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that reject some of the gospels in the New Testament?
- 📝 Are there any Christian groups or denominations that believe that non-Christians have access to the power of the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that do not believe in Exorcisms?
- 📝 Are there any Christian groups or denominations that teach how to discern between Godly, demonic and psychological experiences?
- 📝 Are there any Christian Restorationist denominations that believe their establishment was the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy?
- 📝 Are there any American Christian denominations that refer to the days of the week by alternate names?
- 📝 Are there any trinitarian Christian denominations that believe one should only pray to the Father, not to Jesus?
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that assure equality with God?
- 📝 Are there any Christian groups or denominations that make a distinction between the gift of healing and just praying for the sick to get healed?
- 📝 Are there any christian denominations that think having concubines is sin and why?
- 📝 Are there any Christian groups that follow Matthew 23:9?
- 📝 Are there any Protestant denominations or churches that reject penal substitution?
- 📝 Are there any Christian sects that believe in "curative intercourse"?
- 📝 Are there any major Protestant denominations that meet every day and are together all the time like the early church was?
- 📝 Are there any major / orthodox Christian leaders that taught that Paul didn't meet Jesus?
- 📝 Are there any Christian sects that say salvation is based, in whole or in part, on your response to Jesus on Judgment Day?
- 📝 Are there any denominations that give official advice on how to handle the uncertainty in their doctrines?
- 📝 Are there any denominations that teach a Hell that is not a place?
- 📝 Are there any denominations that baptize ONLY in the Name of Jesus?
- 📝 Are there any active Christian ministries that preach from the Jefferson Bible?
- 📝 Are there or have there been any Christian traditions that follow Kosher food laws?
- 📝 Are there any denominations that do not require pastors to be college educated?
- 📝 Are there any denominations that give official advice on how to win atheists for Christ who are very strong in philosophy, logic and skepticism?
- 📝 Are there any denominations that defend their doctrines by appealing to extra-biblical evidence from the 1st/2nd century of the early Church?
- 📝 Are there any Christian sects that allow for the existence of other "God" claims?