RT Article
T1 A Transcript of Submission: Jesus as Fated Victim of Divine Violence in the Old Saxon Heliand
JF Religions
VO 12
IS 5
A1 Youngs, Samuel  J.
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1760775258
AB The Heliand, written shortly after the conquest and conversion of the Saxons at the hands of Charlemagne, maintains a vexed place in the study of medieval European Christianity(ies). Some argue that the Heliand’s overarching intent was pastoral, meant to ease the fears and calm the rage of the defeated Saxons, while others posit that the Heliand reflects a “dissident gospel,” aimed at subverting the official theological outlook of the Carolingian empire. This study argues that while both theories capture something of the Heliand’s ingenious contextual impact, they underestimate one of its key themes: the role of wurd (fate) and its co-identification with the “power of God,” which drives Jesus to the cross and scaffolds his submission to the violence of the divine will. Thus, the Heliand presents compliant victimization as the proper “fate” of those who submit to God’s purposes, promising a heavenly reward and countermanding the Saxon ethos of resistance.
K1 Germanic Christianity
K1 Heliand
K1 Saxon Christianity
K1 Contextualization
K1 Medieval Christianity
K1 Political Theology
K1 redemptive violence
K1 Theology of the cross
DO 10.3390/rel12050306