Christianity in I celand

• Main Author: Symeon Magnússon, Ágúst
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2011
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0688; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0688; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0688

Abstract Christianity has been a part of Iceland's culture since the beginning of human habitation on the island. Irish monks came to Iceland sometime in the 6th or 7th century, 150 years before the Norse settled the island in the 870s. Their purpose was probably either to proselytize the native population — they didn't know it was nonexistent — or to continue the tradition of the Egyptian desert fathers, to disappear into an unforgiving wilderness to engage in spiritual warfare. When the Norse settlers started arriving on the island the monks quickly disappeared, most likely because they did not want to engage with the emerging pagan culture.