Pre-Modern Seminar No 14: Tõnno Jonuks

On Monday April 16th at 18.15 at the library of Skandinavistika Dr Tõnno Jonuks will give a talk called:

"Christianity before the Christianity in Estonia"

The seminar will take place in the library of Skandinavistika (Ülikooli 17) at 18.15.
 

Tõnno has sent us a short presentation of the lecture:

"It is widely known that cross-symbolism was known in Estonia prior the official baptizing of the country in early 13th century. There are many different interpretations suggested for the explanation, of which one of the most common is, that Christian influences were incorporated into the Estonian Late Iron Age religion. However, scholars ususally stop here and desist from further speculations of what kind of Christian influences these were and how did they actually affect Estonian Late Iron Age religion. I will discuss some finds with cross-symbolism, especially cases where they seem to be locally made and locally (re)interpreted. That shows that Christian symbolism had a special place in Estonian Late Iron Age religion and it formed a part of the religion of the period. I wish to speculate a little further about these 'Christian influences' in Estonian religion. Considering our sources, it seems that we may talk about an Estonian version of Christianity and it seems that at least some people may have considered themselves as Christians. Nevertheless, it did not make them Christians for the rest of the Europe. So, what was the role of Christianity prior to the official baptizing?"

Welcome!