Two things can be true at once.
Beowulf is a story about a pagan people acting like pagans. The poem tells us of the various Norse peoples (Jutes, Frisians, Danes, etc.) who were locked into blood feuds going back multiple generations. It speaks of men who loved acquiring gold in heaps as though the possession of riches were an end to itself. It tells us of braggarts who loved to seek glory for themselves through feats of strength. The poem tells of men who loved to drink themselves into oblivion in mead halls as often as possible. Pagans are as pagans do.
However, Beowulf is also one of the finest works of Christian imagination to come out of the medieval era.
I have to admit that for a long time this story’s full significance was lost on me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the story from the first time I read it. I was attracted to the story because it contained a bold hero who put himself in harm's way for the good of his neighbors. I loved the story because I am a guy and guys love monster fights! I was intrigued by the story because I saw its connection to Tolkien’s story, The Hobbit. I was fascinated by the fact that the story made numerous allusions to Old Testament figures like Cain and Abel and stories like the Flood. I was perplexed because the story, though written in Christianized England c. 1000 A.D., had no direct references to Christ or the apostles or the New Testament. I loved the story, but I didn’t see what was right in front of me.
Eventually it clicked. The Beowulf poet wrote about a people who desperately needed Christ. Beowulf himself was about the best kind of hero the pagan world could hope to produce. He was strong, he was self-sacrificing, he valued his friends, he was merciful to his critics, he was generous, he defended his people, he took pity on the vulnerable. He was one good king. As long as Beowulf was on the throne, he brought peace through strength and prudence. As long as Beowulf was there he brought security against the monsters of the world. But Beowulf was ultimately a mortal and he couldn’t last forever.
This poem tells us about a people who needed Christ but got Beowulf instead. Beowulf was a shadowy type of what the people really needed. As you read this story you should look for the ways in which Beowulf shows up as a literary type of Christ. In numerous places you can see the poet masterfully presenting Beowulf as a lesser type of Christ.1 Once you see the parallels between Beowulf and Christ you won’t be able to unsee them. Even so, no matter how many ways the poet manages to make Beowulf an image Christ in this story, the point remains that people still need a better Beowulf. They needed the Lord Jesus himself and not a mere pagan shadow. This is the message the Beowulf poet cleverly and powerfully delivered to the world about 1,000 years ago. He told us that the best hero the pagan world could ever offer us would still always fall short of the everlasting king of all kings. It was time to let go of the last vestiges of the pagan world and to embrace fully the kingdom come in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This post is the landing page for the study guide of Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf. Below you will find links to questions for each section of the book. Please feel free to use them for your own private enjoyment and reflection or in your classroom or homeschool. To see the growing list of completed Study Guides you can click HERE.
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Indeed, all heroes cannot help but be a type of Christ, because God has rigged the world in such a way that to be heroic is to resemble Christ.
Especially when teasing out the imagery of the hero against the dragon.
Other fun things to do with Beowulf is to see how other authors and their literature linked up with it's imagry of dragon mounds filled with treasure... Like Bag End, harboring the ring, and the hobbits in town calling it a queer place full of riches. And In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, it describes the green knght's lair much in the same way you would describe a hobbit hole.
Enjoyed this perspective. I had read Beowulf for a discussion and my first read left me wondering why this is on the classic list when it is so similar to Homer. The Christian points were very subtle, so what more did it add to the conversation about the ideal man? After reading your intro I decided I better read this again.