Review of Haraldur Hreinsson, Force of Words: A Cultural History of Christianity and Politics in Medieval Iceland (11th–13th Centuries). Leiden: Brill, 2021. xiv + 328 pp. ISBN 9789004449572
As Haraldur Hreinsson rightly emphasises at the beginning of Force of Words, the first few centuries of Christianity in Iceland have been studied largely from the perspective of the practical uses of religion in the multifaceted contests of political and social life. The early system of proprietary...
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| Format: | Review |
| Language: | English |
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Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
2021
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.57686/256204/10 https://ims.leeds.ac.uk/article/review-of-haraldur-hreinsson-force-of-words-a-cultural-history-of-christianity-and-politics-in-medieval-iceland-11th-13th-centuries-leiden-brill-2021-xiv-328-pp-isbn-9789004449572/ |
| Summary: | As Haraldur Hreinsson rightly emphasises at the beginning of Force of Words, the first few centuries of Christianity in Iceland have been studied largely from the perspective of the practical uses of religion in the multifaceted contests of political and social life. The early system of proprietary churches, what Haraldur calls the ‘Chieftain Church’, has been the core interest of scholars, particularly the value of these churches to the secular interests of Icelandic chieftains. Force of Words aims to remedy this situation by reading the earliest religious writings in Iceland — particularly the Icelandic Homily Book and translated hagiography — as a reflection of religious discourses, and interpret the historical period in light of these writings. Despite a number of flaws, the book manages to effectively highlight the gap in a conception of history that does not account for personal piety and the full corpus of religious writings to explain the worldviews of historical agents. : Leeds Medieval Studies, 1 (2021) |
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