Signals of belief in early England - M. O. H Carver

This volume will throw new light on the intellect of the
earliest English - the way they thought, the way they viewed the
world, and the way they viewed worlds other than this.
Previous
understanding of the topic, well rooted in the ideas of its time,
regarded the English as adherents of two consecutive religions:
Paganism governed the settlers of the 4th-6th century, but was
superseded in the 7th-10th century by Christianity. Of the two,
Christianity, a religion of the book, documented itself
thoroughly, while in failing to do so Paganism laid itself open
to centuries of abuse, conjecture or mindless admiration.In developing new objectives, the papers here demonstrate that
beliefs varied from place to place and were expressed in material
culture. Through archaeology therefore, these beliefs can be
rediscovered. Aware of the fact that even the best archaeology
provides no open access to the mind, the contributors record, and
study, signals of belief rather than what was believed.The premise of this volume is therefore that paganism was not a
religion with supraregional rules and institutions but a loose
term for a variety of local intellectual world views. The same
courtesy is extended to Christianity.
Both religions are treated
as sources on which people, local people - the true agents of
Anglo-Saxon England - eclectically drew.
A range of material culture and locations across Northern Europe
are explored, looking at signals of belief from the landscape,
water cults, burial rites, the hall and animals in life and art.
Each author looks across the sea to Scandinavia, as well as to
the woods and fields, mires and mounds of Old England, resulting
in a new perspective on the intellectual preoccupations and
anxieties of a crucial age.