{"id":809,"date":"2019-03-31T20:53:50","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T18:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runforum.nordiska.uu.se\/blog\/?p=809"},"modified":"2023-04-19T13:19:08","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T11:19:08","slug":"the-runestone-creed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runforum.nordiska.uu.se\/blog\/the-runestone-creed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Runestone Creed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Runestone U 896 H\u00e5ga, now placed in the University Park in Uppsala. Photo: Marco Bianchi (CC BY)<\/p><\/div>\n

Since we are in the season of Lent, I thought it appropriate to write a blog post on runestone Christianity. A very common misconception about the over 3.000 runic monuments from the Viking Age is that they are pagan, whereas almost the exact opposite is true. Runestones are either explicitly Christian by the means of a cross and\/or the inclusion of a prayer, or seemingly religiously neutral. Although the latter inscriptions are more common than the former, there is reason to believe that almost all of them, too, are commissioned by and for Christians.<\/p>\n

runestones give evidence not of the official teachings but of the received piety<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even though the Christian influence on runestones has been recognized since the early 18th<\/sup> century, most researchers seem to view the religious expressions as quite primitive and typical of first generation converts. What is forgotten, however, is that runestones give evidence not of the official teachings but of the received piety. We see little of church hierarchy or of theological sophistry, but more of \u201cpractical\u201d Christianity. These are memorials, after all, best compared to gravestones in our modern world.<\/p>\n

That is why three celestial personages are mentioned, and no one else. These are the ones that according to Catholic dogma were important to please at the last judgment: Christ of course, but also his mother the Virgin Mary who intercedes on behalf of the souls to be judged and the archangel Saint Michael who weighs them in his scales.<\/p>\n

The Father and the Holy Ghost are never mentioned explicitly<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Missionary theology had to explain the faith in terms understandable to the polytheists they encountered. This explains why the word God<\/em> primarily seems to have implied the Son. The Father and the Holy Ghost are never mentioned explicitly.<\/p>\n

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The Onchan stone cross on the Isle of Man. Photo: Marco Bianchi (CC BY)<\/p><\/div>\n

This is the only real evidence of any \u201cprimitivism\u201d visible in runestone Christianity. Many of the monuments were commissioned by third or fourth generation Christians. Their faith was most likely as \u201cadvanced\u201d as that of other contemporary Europeans. To show that that Viking Age Christians held beliefs in accordance with medieval dogma and received theology, and indeed very much what is also true today, I will show how the runestone prayers directly or indirectly conform to two of the most basic confessions of Christian faith: the Apostles\u2019 creed and the Nicene creed.<\/p>\n

Nicene Creed<\/h3>\n

We believe in one God<\/em><\/p>\n