Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North

by G. Ronald Murphy

Overview

Winner of the 2014 Mythopoeic Myth & Fantasy Studies Award

At the heart of the mythology of the Anglo-Scandinavian-Germanic North is the evergreen Yggdrasil, the tree of life believed to hold up the skies and unite and separate three worlds: Asgard, high in the tree, where the gods dwelled in their great halls; Middlegard, where human beings lived; and the dark underground world of Hel, home to the monstrous goddess of death. With the advent of Christianity in the North around the year 1000, Yggdrasil was recast as the cross on which Christ sacrificed himself. G. Ronald Murphy offers an insightful examination of the lasting significance of Yggdrasil in northern Europe, showing that the tree's image persisted not simply through its absorption into descriptions of Christ's crucifix, but through recognition by the newly converted Christians of the truth of their new religion in the images and narratives of their older faith.

Rather than dwelling on theological and cultural differences between Christianity and older Anglo-Scandinavian beliefs, Murphy makes an argument internal to the culture, showing how the new dispensation was a realization of the old. He shows how architectural and literary works, including the Jelling stone in Denmark, the stave churches in Norway, The Dream of the Rood, the runes of the futhark, the round churches on Bornholm, the Viking crosses at Middleton in Yorkshire and even the Christmas tree, are all indebted to the cultural interweaving of cross and tree in the North. Tree of Salvation demonstrates that both Christian and older Northern symbols can be read as a single story of salvation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199948611
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/24/2013
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	698,745
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

G. Ronald Murphy is George M. Roth Distinguished Professor of German at Georgetown University.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Realization

I: In Wood and Stone
2. The Norwegian Stave Churches
3. Bornholm's Round Churches and Baptismal Font
4. The Viking Crosses at Middleton

II : In Poetry and Runes
5. The Dream of the Rood and the Ruthwell Cross
6. Yggdrasil and the Runes of the Elder Futhark

III : In Yuletide Carol and Evergreens
7. Yggdrasil and the Christmas Tree

Select Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"There is much to recommend in ree of Salvation...it is full of interesting and nuanced reflections on the relationship between the Cross and the central sacred tree of the pagan Norse cosmos, and Murphy has a keen eye for the exegetical potential of literature, architecture and artefacts. He demonstrates a sensitivity to the nature of belief which transcends mundane and reductive approaches to the subject, and offers a reflective reconstruction of the manner in which the tree served as a central symbol for mediation and meditation in the medieval North. It is on these grounds that Murphy makes his case, and on these grounds that this book is successful."—Saga-Book

"A brilliant book that liturgists ought to know...The book is clearly written, easy to follow, excellently illustrated, and wonderfully engaging in its argumentation...I do not know of a better account of specific cases in the history of liturgical inculturaltion than this book."—Worship

"Murphy's scholarship is superb... Tree of Salvation is a labor of love: a love which is palpable and apparent throughout its pages." —Mythlore

"Tree of Salavation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North is a highly original, insightful, and sophisticated study. The book will be much cited." —Church History

[A] clearly written book...Recommended. —CHOICE

"A most inspiring and insightful book, and it was so wonderful to read a scholarly work spanning centuries and disciplines and written in beautiful prose....an unforgettable book."— Kirsten Wolf, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"Amazing book...one of the finest examples I know of a history of liturgical inculturation."—Gordon Lathrop, Professor of Liturgy Emeritus, Lutheran Theological Seminary

"At the center of this book stands a tree-but is it the evergreen Yggdrasil connecting the three worlds of Asgard, Middlegard, and Hel, or the Cross upon which the Maker sacrificed himself to bring salvation to his creation? This brilliant book shows us how both images can be true. Fr. Murphy transports us into a world where the myths of the North become once again potent and filled with mystery. Especially wonderful is Murphy's refusal to pit one religion against the other: this is a story internal to a culture, the new dispensation reflecting itself through the old, much as within Christianity, the New Testament is seen as a realization of the Old. Murphy makes both Yggdrasil and the Rood of the Dream come alive for us. This exciting, readable, persuasive, and beautifully argued book will enthrall specialists in early medieval history, art history, and literature, and everyone who has ever decorated a Christmas tree." —Rachel Fulton Brown, University of Chicago

"While Boniface wielded his ax to destroy paganism in eighth-century Germany, Christian conversion in the North operated in a much more culture-sensitive manner, as G. Ronald Murphy beautifully illustrates in his new study focused on the visual and literary material from the Old-Norse world. Through his careful study of the Nordic architecture and the use of the tree in lieu of the cross, combined with a meticulous reading of the Eddic texts and the Old-Saxon Heliand, Murphy uncovers a breathtaking story of how Christianity was merged with the old Scandinavian belief system in order to achieve conversion." —Albrecht Classen, editor of The Handbook of Medieval Studies (2010)

"G. Ronald Murphy, S.J. leads us on a fascinating pilgrimage, investigating the pre-Christian to Christian transition from one worldview to the new concept of God and the universe. Central to his groundbreaking thesis is church architecture of the transition period and new insights regarding pre-Christian burial customs and the Tree of Salvation-Yggdrasil, the World Tree-and its mythological story of Odin on the tree, of Lif and Lifthrasir for whom the tree opened to safety, and Germanic myth foreshadowing Christianity." —James E. Cathey, Professor Emeritus of German and Scandinavian Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst

"In this clearly written book, Murphy presents a fanciful exploration of the Nordic world tree [...] Murphy provides novel interpretations[, ... his] reading of the bracteates and the runes inscribed on them is interesting." —T.R. Tangherlini, University of California, Los Angeles, CHOICE

"The story told in this book is a beautiful one. Just as Christianity sought to see prefigurations in the Old Testament of events described in the New Testament, so it was that when Christianity was spread among the heathen Germanic peoples of northern and northwestern Europe, similar connections were established between the old religion of the converts and Christianity."—The Journal of Religion

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