The Viking Spirit

The Viking Spirit
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 318
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1533393036
ISBN-13 : 9781533393036
Rating : 4/5 (36 Downloads)

Synopsis The Viking Spirit by : Daniel McCoy

The Viking Spirit is an introduction to Norse mythology like no other. As you'd expect from Daniel McCoy, the creator of the enduringly popular website Norse Mythology for Smart People (Norse-Mythology.org), it's written to scholarly standards, but in a simple, clear, and entertaining style that's easy to understand and a pleasure to read. It includes gripping retellings of no less than 34 epic Norse myths - more than any other book in the field - while also providing an equally comprehensive overview of the fascinating Viking religion of which Norse mythology was a part. You'll learn about the Vikings' gods and goddesses, their concept of fate, their views on the afterlife, their moral code, how they thought the universe was structured, how they practiced their religion, the role that magic played in their lives, and much more. With its inclusion of the latest groundbreaking research in the field, The Viking Spirit is the ultimate introduction to the timeless splendor of Norse mythology and religion for the 21st Century.

Summary of Daniel McCoy's The Viking Spirit

Summary of Daniel McCoy's The Viking Spirit
Author :
Publisher : Everest Media LLC
Total Pages : 69
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781669365358
ISBN-13 : 1669365352
Rating : 4/5 (58 Downloads)

Synopsis Summary of Daniel McCoy's The Viking Spirit by : Everest Media,

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The longship sways on the windy sea like a seer in a trance. After days of hard rowing, the crew is exhausted. They had set sail from the western coast of Scandinavia several days ago, bound for the eastern coast of England. #2 The Vikings landed in a deserted town, and began to search it. They found a large ornate building in the center of the city, and entered it. The building was more lavish than anything Sverrir had ever seen, and the townspeople had apparently brought all of their valuables into it. #3 The townspeople of Bebbanburg perform a strange gesture that involves touching one of their hands to four different parts of their torso and head as the Vikings begin to hew down anyone who stands in their way. The Vikings suffer heavy losses in the battle, and most distressingly for Sverrir, Hauk falls after having fought valiantly. #4 The poem was so intricate and learned that the simple warriors could not understand parts of it. The king was said to be a descendent of Odin, and his generosity was unparalleled. The raid was presented as an unmitigated, glorious victory.

Nordic Religions in the Viking Age

Nordic Religions in the Viking Age
Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages : 288
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0812217144
ISBN-13 : 9780812217148
Rating : 4/5 (44 Downloads)

Synopsis Nordic Religions in the Viking Age by : Thomas Andrew DuBois

Thomas DuBois unravels for the first time the history of the Nordic religions in the Viking Age. "A seminal study of Nordic religions that future scholars will not be able to avoid."—Church History

The Love of Destiny: the Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism

The Love of Destiny: the Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 98
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1492761559
ISBN-13 : 9781492761556
Rating : 4/5 (59 Downloads)

Synopsis The Love of Destiny: the Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism by : Dan McCoy

We're all familiar with the pop culture depictions of Norse mythology that are shallow and trite at best, and often downright misleading. They owe far more to puerile fantasies of being a macho superhero than they do to the ways in which the pre-Christian peoples of northern Europe actually thought of themselves and their spirituality.Even many of the attempts to revive the practice of heathen spirituality in the modern world suffer from similar shortcomings; many of these attempted reconstructions have unfortunately only reconstructed the most superficial elements of this ancient tradition, grafted them onto an essentially Christian way of perceiving and experiencing the world, and missed the bigger picture.The Love of Destiny: The Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism explores this bigger picture. In this relatively short book or long essay by Dan McCoy, the author of the articles on Norse-Mythology.org, many of the recurring themes in these articles are explored in much more depth. The book articulates the heart of the indigenous Germanic worldview - the unconditional affirmation of the world as the very embodiment of the gods - and shows how the rest of that worldview is structured around that central idea.To do this, it "translates" the narratives and images that comprise the pre-Christian mythology of the Norse and other Germanic peoples into the more familiar idiom of conceptual language, and contrasts this polytheistic mythology with the mythology of four monotheistic religions: ancient Judaism, Greek rationalism, Christianity, and modern science. It argues that many of the most taken-for-granted ideas in the modern world, such as the dichotomy between "good" and "evil" and the dichotomy between the "objective" and the "subjective," frame their topics in counterproductive, monotheistic ways, and shows how Germanic polytheism offers compelling alternatives that are truly "outside the box." Ultimately, it evokes a way of engaging with the more-than-human world that honors our inescapable and awe-inspiring entanglement within it.

The Road to Hel

The Road to Hel
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 219
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781107632349
ISBN-13 : 110763234X
Rating : 4/5 (49 Downloads)

Synopsis The Road to Hel by : Hilda Roderick Ellis

This 1943 book uses a variety of evidence from archaeology and literature concerning Norse funeral customs to reconstruct their conception of future life.

The Age of the Vikings

The Age of the Vikings
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 327
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781400851904
ISBN-13 : 1400851904
Rating : 4/5 (04 Downloads)

Synopsis The Age of the Vikings by : Anders Winroth

A major reassessment of the vikings and their legacy The Vikings maintain their grip on our imagination, but their image is too often distorted by myth. It is true that they pillaged, looted, and enslaved. But they also settled peacefully and traveled far from their homelands in swift and sturdy ships to explore. The Age of the Vikings tells the full story of this exciting period in history. Drawing on a wealth of written, visual, and archaeological evidence, Anders Winroth captures the innovation and pure daring of the Vikings without glossing over their destructive heritage. He not only explains the Viking attacks, but also looks at Viking endeavors in commerce, politics, discovery, and colonization, and reveals how Viking arts, literature, and religious thought evolved in ways unequaled in the rest of Europe. The Age of the Vikings sheds new light on the complex society, culture, and legacy of these legendary seafarers.

The Viking Way

The Viking Way
Author :
Publisher : Oxbow Books Limited
Total Pages : 0
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1842172603
ISBN-13 : 9781842172605
Rating : 4/5 (03 Downloads)

Synopsis The Viking Way by : Neil S. Price

Magic, sorcery and witchcraft are among the most common themes of the great medieval Icelandic sagas and poems, the problematic yet vital sources that provide our primary textual evidence for the Viking Age that they claim to describe. Yet despite the consistency of this picture, surprisingly little archaeological or historical research has been done to explore what this may really have meant to the men and women of the time. This book examines the evidence for Old Norse sorcery, looking at its meaning and function, practice and practitioners, and the complicated constructions of gender and sexual identity with which these were underpinned. Combining strong elements of eroticism and aggression, sorcery appears as a fundamental domain of women's power, linking them with the gods, the dead and the future. Their battle spells and combat rituals complement the men's physical acts of fighting, in a supernatural empowerment of the Viking way of life. What emerges is a fundamentally new image of the world in which the Vikings understood themselves to move, in which magic and its implications permeated every aspect of a society permanently geared for war. In this fully revised and expanded second edition, Neil Price takes us with him on a tour through the sights and sounds of this undiscovered country, meeting its human and otherworldly inhabitants, including the Sámi with whom the Norse partly shared this mental landscape. On the way we explore Viking notions of the mind and soul, the fluidity of the boundaries that they drew between humans and animals, and the immense variety of their spiritual beliefs. We find magic in the Vikings' bedrooms and on their battlefields, and we meet the sorcerers themselves through their remarkable burials and the tools of their trade. Combining archaeology, history and literary scholarship with extensive studies of Germanic and circumpolar religion, this multi-award-winning book shows us the Vikings as we have never seen them before.

Norse Mythology

Norse Mythology
Author :
Publisher : OUP USA
Total Pages : 382
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780195153828
ISBN-13 : 0195153820
Rating : 4/5 (28 Downloads)

Synopsis Norse Mythology by : John Lindow

Provides information on the gods, heroes, rituals, beliefs, symbols, and stories of Norse mythology.

Myths of the Pagan North

Myths of the Pagan North
Author :
Publisher : A&C Black
Total Pages : 274
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781847252470
ISBN-13 : 1847252478
Rating : 4/5 (70 Downloads)

Synopsis Myths of the Pagan North by : Christopher Abram

An engaging account of the world of the Vikings and their gods.

Eros and Magic in the Renaissance

Eros and Magic in the Renaissance
Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Total Pages : 286
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780226123165
ISBN-13 : 0226123162
Rating : 4/5 (65 Downloads)

Synopsis Eros and Magic in the Renaissance by : Ioan P. Culianu

It is a widespread prejudice of modern, scientific society that "magic" is merely a ludicrous amalgam of recipes and methods derived from primitive and erroneous notions about nature. Eros and Magic in the Renaissance challenges this view, providing an in-depth scholarly explanation of the workings of magic and showing that magic continues to exist in an altered form even today. Renaissance magic, according to Ioan Couliano, was a scientifically plausible attempt to manipulate individuals and groups based on a knowledge of motivations, particularly erotic motivations. Its key principle was that everyone (and in a sense everything) could be influenced by appeal to sexual desire. In addition, the magician relied on a profound knowledge of the art of memory to manipulate the imaginations of his subjects. In these respects, Couliano suggests, magic is the precursor of the modern psychological and sociological sciences, and the magician is the distant ancestor of the psychoanalyst and the advertising and publicity agent. In the course of his study, Couliano examines in detail the ideas of such writers as Giordano Bruno, Marsilio Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola and illuminates many aspects of Renaissance culture, including heresy, medicine, astrology, alchemy, courtly love, the influence of classical mythology, and even the role of fashion in clothing. Just as science gives the present age its ruling myth, so magic gave a ruling myth to the Renaissance. Because magic relied upon the use of images, and images were repressed and banned in the Reformation and subsequent history, magic was replaced by exact science and modern technology and eventually forgotten. Couliano's remarkable scholarship helps us to recover much of its original significance and will interest a wide audience in the humanities and social sciences.