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In the "Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity," James Russell argues that the conversion of the Germanic tribes, over the course of centuries, from roughly 400 AD down until 800 AD, resulted in a fundamental transformation of Christianity. The book could be subtitled "Contra Nietzsche," for Russell carves-out a grand exception to Nietzsche's portrayal of Christianity as "slave morality." Stated differently, and more baldy than Russell would, the process of "Germanization" amounted to a reversal of early Christian values.
Russell identifies the cult of saints, sacral kingship & crusades, proprietary churches, and a dramatic-representational liturgical form as examples of "Germanization." But his argument is at the level of paradigms, not empirical history as such. He maintains that a heroic, world-accepting, folk-centered reinterpretation of Christianity emerged, displacing the early version of Christianity which was world-rejecting & universalist, urban & anomic & soteriological. "As a consequence of the religio-political influence of the Ottonian emperors in Rome during the tenth and eleventh centuries, this Germanic reinterpretation eventually became *normative* throughout western Christendom." The Gothic cathedral would be its ultimate artistic expression.
The question thus arises, which Christianity is the real Christianity? The primitive church, which all later reform movements would seek to restore in one way or another--from the mendicant orders down through the Protestant Reformation and the Second Vatican Council--or the Germanized version? A better question might be, which Christianity is better able to resist Islam?
Russell's thesis is of the utmost relevance to the spiritual-political situation in today's Europe, where the prospect of city-to-city, street-to-street, house-to-house warfare against Islam is imminent. In contrast to such leading thinkers of the Right as Alain de Benoist, who in matters of religion seem to do little more than adopt the quietist position of the late Heidegger, in essence waiting for new pagan gods to save us, the implication of Russell's argument is that a "counter reformed" Christianity is the only real option if Europe's defenders are to have spiritual resources.
Also, Russell's discussion of "Hellenization" in the first half of the book is fascinating, wherein the expansion of Greece (and later Rome) entailed the loss of Indo-European identity. The conversion of the German barbarians, in a mirror-image ruse, brought with it a reassertion of the Indo-European, albeit on a higher & more chivalrous plane
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- The Saxon Savior: The Germanic Transformation of the Gospel in the Ninth-Century HeliandPaperbackEUR 7.42 shippingOnly 3 left in stock (more on the way).
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- Andringa TonReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2011
Excellent
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase - William G. CookeReviewed in Canada on September 9, 2016
A greatly overrated study
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