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Religion In Beowulf

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Beowulf: A Christian Book
Beowulf, a poem written around the 10th to 11th century, is a very detailed poem describing some of the actions a character by the name of Beowulf does. It takes place in Anglo-Saxon time (British Library, n.d., p. 1). Throughout the first episode, characters are very boastful and like to roast each other as well. This poem later gets pretty violent and gruesome. However, many people think Beowulf is a Christian poem. Others say it isn’t. Beowulf is a Christian poem and not a pagan one for many reasons. These include that God is talked a lot about throughout the whole poem, even that pagan parts to this book have a different meaning than what is said, and Beowulf is made after Jesus Christ. First off, throughout …show more content…

For example, throughout the first episode, people are being terrorized by Grendel. Beowulf comes along and slays the beast to save all the people, acting as a savior to all these needy folks. He barely knew these Danish people yet he came and saved their lives. The Danes thought of him as their savior sent to them by God. He came out of nowhere and saved their lives. He put himself in harm’s way to protect the group of people he barely knew. Jesus did that in His life by saving all of us (Matthew 18). He came and defeated the beast which was death and rose again on the third day. Though Beowulf didn’t die and come back to life, he did do some very Christ-like actions as a man. He saves lives just as Jesus did. Now, Jesus Christ was long dead by the time this poem was written. However, if this book was a pagan book, how could the Anglo-Saxons even find ways to compare Beowulf to Jesus Christ. They wouldn’t even know who he is. The author of this book knew who Jesus was and based his main character after Him. Who could be a better main character than a man who resembles Jesus Christ? Really nothing can beat that. The author of the poem had a genius thought when writing it by letting Beowulf be like Jesus. This proves again that Beowulf is a Christian book and no a pagan

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