Saga - 2007, Page 130

Abstract
s t e inunn kr i s t jánsdótt i r
THE ADOPT ION OF CHRIST IANITY IN ICELAND,
AS INFLUENCED BY UNORGANISED GROWTH AND
ORGANISED MISS IONS
The article discusses the Christianisation of Icelanders, accounting for the major
Nordic approaches of recent decades to research on the Christianisation process
and describing the new methods which have been applied. These methods are
distinguished according to whether they define Christianisation as a political
decision taken by those who had power in society (i.e., top down) and investigate
it on that basis, or whether they depend on examining the process by which indi-
vidual conversions played a major role in Christianity’s spreading out among the
general populace (i.e., bottom up) and being legally adopted in Iceland. The arti-
cle follows the latter approach and thus examines Iceland’s conversion in light of
the grassroots and role of the general populace. Excavations of two different
types of Icelandic church buildings are referred to for support, performed on
ruins from the end of the 10th century and beginning of the 11th, which was
before Icelandic Christianity began to be organised as an institution. The two
types of excavated churches are related to the regions that settlers in Iceland had
encountered as their former homes or on their travels, taking into account that
neither culture nor faith is a localised, unchanging entity, but rather undergoes
constant reshaping due to external influences. Additionally, the study assumes
that the Christianisation process had already begun among the social groups
who later settled in Iceland. The main areas from which the settlers are believed
to have come are Scandinavia and the northern parts of the British Isles. At the
time of Iceland’s settlement, the dominant type of Christianity in the British Isles
is referred to as Irish-Scottish, while that in Scandinavia is called Anglo-
Scandinavian, although these two types of Christianity gradually adapted to
each other as the Viking Age drew to a close. The conclusion is that the two dif-
ferent types of church buildings from the first century of Christianity in Iceland
reflect two clusters of cultural and social priorities which were introduced to the
country both through the organic spread of Christianity and through organised
missions.
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