Pre-Modern Seminar No 28: Maths Bertell

On Monday November 11th Assistant Professor Maths Bertell from Mid-Sweden University will give a talk called:

“When Odin met Christ. Retrospective methods to explain the transformation of Odin?”

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The seminar will take place in the library of Skandinavistika (Ülikooli 17, 3rd floor, room 305) at 18.15.
 

Maths has sent us a short presentation of the lecture:

“What are the cultural and religious dimensions in the character of Odin in the sources from the 13th century? Many has assumed that the Odin character and the characters surrounding him in the medieval texts were heavily influenced by Christianity, often through the medieval writers, but also through a cultural influence already during late Viking age. Hence those traits shouldn’t be considered genuine to the Old Norse religion. By using theory of cultural and religious change on the motifs in the poetic Edda and in the texts of Snorri, we may be able to discuss the road leading up to the Conversion of Scandinavia and the consequences of the Conversion for the later reception of the Odin character.”

Maths Bertell is historian of religion and Assistant Professor at the Mid-Sweden University. He wrote his PhD about Thor and has also worked a lot on Saami religion.