Jennbert Kristina, Andrén Anders, Raudvere Catharina (eds.) Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes & Interactions

Nordic Academic Press, 2007. — 416 p. — (An international conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3-7, 2004).The study of Old Norse Religion is a truly multidisciplinary and international field of research. The rituals, myths and narratives of pre-Christian Scandinavia are investigated and interpreted by archaeologists, historians, art historians, historians of religion as well as scholars of literature, onomastics and Scandinavian studies. For obvious reasons, these studies belong to the main curricula in Scandinavia but are also carried out at many other universities in Europe, the United States and Australia – a fact that is evident to any reader of this book.In order to bring this broad and varied field of research together, an international conference on Old Norse religion was held in Lund in June 2004. About two hundred delegates from more than fifteen countries took part. The intention was to gather researchers to encourage and improve scholarly exchange and dialogue, and Old Norse religion in long-term perspectives presents a selection of the proceedings from that conference. The 75 contributions elucidate topics such as worldview and cosmology, ritual and religious practice, myth and memory as well as the reception and present-day use of Old Norse religion.The main editors of this volume have directed the multidisciplinary research project Roads to Midgard since 2000. The project is based at Lund University and funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.Anders Andrén is a professor of archeology at Stockholm University, Sweden. Kristina Jennbert is an associate professor of archeology at Lund University, Sweden. Catharina Raudvere is a professor of History of Religions, University of Copenhagen.