The Viking-Christian Dialogue: Ancient Wisdom in Modern Context

In the hit series "Vikings", the first encounter between Ragnar Lothbrok and the monk Athelstan in the series "Vikings" crystallizes a profound cultural and philosophical collision that would shape European history. In this dramatic moment, two worldviews meet: one centered on power, immediate reality, and plural gods; the other on faith, written word, and monotheism. When Ragnar discovers Athelstan attempting to save a Gospel book amidst a monastery raid, the scene encapsulates fundamental questions about faith, knowledge, and what humans choose to value. The monk's dedication to preserving sacred texts rather than material treasures puzzles the Vikings, highlighting how differently these cultures understood worth, wisdom, and the divine.

This historical moment of first contact between Norse and Christian worldviews serves as a powerful lens through which to examine enduring questions that still resonate today: How do we determine value? What deserves protection? How do different cultures understand the sacred? What role does the written word play in preserving wisdom? These questions, first dramatized in such encounters, continue to shape contemporary discussions about faith, materialism, and cultural understanding.

The relationship dynamic of Ragnar Lothbrok and Athelstan in this series bring out enduring tensions between fate and free will, violence and peace, and competing views of sexuality and purpose. While Norse culture emphasized courage in facing destiny and valued heroic combat, Catholic teaching developed systematic approaches to war, sexuality, and community that offer surprising relevance to modern challenges. This dialogue between traditions provides fresh perspectives on contemporary issues from hedonism to individualism.

Historical Context and Modern Parallels

The relationship between Ragnar and Athelstan serves as more than historical drama – it represents an eternal dialogue between different approaches to life's fundamental questions. Their interaction moves beyond simple conflict to mutual understanding, mirroring how modern societies might approach ideological differences.

The Viking age occurred during a crucial period of European Christianization, creating unique syntheses of beliefs and practices. Today's post-secular society faces similar challenges of integrating different worldviews and finding common ground between seemingly opposing philosophies.

Core Philosophical Contrasts

Destiny and Free Will

The Norse concept of Wyrd (fate) emphasized accepting and courageously facing one's destiny. This fatalistic approach finds echoes in modern deterministic philosophies and materialist worldviews. In contrast, Catholic thought developed a sophisticated understanding of free will working in harmony with divine providence – offering a middle path between pure determinism and radical autonomy that many seek today.

Approaches to Violence and Peace

Norse culture's view of heroic combat as potentially sacred seems alien to modern sensibilities. Yet their understanding of violence as sometimes necessary but always serious carries wisdom. Catholic just war theory developed this insight systematically, creating ethical frameworks still relevant for military ethics and conflict resolution:

• War must be a last resort after all peaceful options are exhausted
• Protection of innocent life takes precedence
• The ultimate goal must be establishing peace, not conquest
• Force must be proportional to the threat

Sexual Ethics and Modern Hedonism

Both traditions offer sophisticated responses to contemporary sexual ethics and relationship challenges.

The Norse Perspective

• Pragmatic approach to sexuality while valuing family bonds
• Marriage as social institution supporting community stability
• Understanding of consequences in pleasure-seeking (reflected in their mythology)

Catholic Sexual Ethics

• Sexuality as sacred, oriented toward total self-gift in marriage
• Celibacy as positive choice for spiritual fruitfulness
• Marriage as permanent, faithful, and open to life
• Chastity as freedom rather than repression

This systematic Catholic approach offers particular relevance to modern challenges:

• Integration of physical and spiritual dimensions of human sexuality
• Focus on lasting joy over temporary pleasure
• Understanding sacrifice as meaningful rather than mere deprivation
• Vision of love transcending pure physical attraction

Community vs. Individualism

Modern society struggles with extreme individualism. Both traditions offer correctives:

Norse Wisdom

• Emphasis on clan loyalty and community bonds
• Understanding of individual honor within community context
• Recognition of mutual obligations

Catholic Social Teaching

• Balance between individual dignity and common good
• Principle of subsidiarity in social organization
• Framework for social responsibility and solidarity

Finding Meaning in Modern Life

Perhaps most relevantly, both traditions offer wisdom about finding purpose in an often seemingly meaningless world:

Norse Contributions

• Courage in facing mortality and uncertainty
• Finding meaning in duty and honor
• Appreciation for life's dramatic nature

Catholic Synthesis

• Integration of suffering into larger narrative
• Purpose beyond material success
• Hope while acknowledging life's struggles
• Balance of justice and mercy

Conclusion

The dialogue between Norse and Christian traditions, dramatically portrayed in "Vikings," offers rich resources for addressing modern challenges. While these worldviews often appeared in conflict, their interaction produced enduring wisdom about human nature, community, and purpose. The Catholic synthesis particularly offers systematic responses to contemporary issues while maintaining deep respect for human dignity and freedom. In our own era of competing worldviews and searching for meaning, this ancient dialogue provides surprising relevance and guidance.

This heritage suggests several key insights for modern people:

1. The importance of integrating physical and spiritual aspects of life
2. Finding meaning beyond pure materialism
3. Balancing individual rights with community good
4. Understanding sacrifice as potentially meaningful
5. Seeing how apparent opposites can be reconciled

In an age of increasing polarization, the example of Ragnar and Athelstan's relationship reminds us that wisdom can be found in unlikely places and that seemingly opposing viewpoints might contain complementary truths. Their story suggests that authentic dialogue between different worldviews, while challenging, can produce profound insights for addressing perennial human questions.

Saint Francis Xavier and the Goa Inquisition

This is a response to hindutva propagandists who have been spreading lies about St. Francis Xavier claiming he could not convert Konkani brahmins through his preaching so he resorted to forcibly torturing them to get them to convert to Christianity using the Goa Inquisition. The main source cited by these propagandists is a letter from Francis Xavier to king John III of Portugal, but before I get into the letter, I want to lay some context for the unacquainted reader:

1. Christianity is a 2000 year old missionary religion. Jesus taught his disciples to "go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation" [Mark 16:15] and "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" [Matthew 28:19]. From the very beginning the Gospel or Good news has been proclaimed inviting repentance and conversion with baptism.
2. For the first 15 centuries, Christians were mostly united and there was no need to clarify the Church which Jesus Christ founded, but that changed with the reformation by Martin Luther. The word Catholic means Universal and become a way to denote those who remained with the Apostolic Church after the protestant reformation in 1500s. But the first recorded usage of the word Catholic dates back to the first century A.D in a letter by Bishop of Antioch to the Smyrnaens (people of Smyrna). Both Antioch and Smyrna are located in modern day Turkey.
3. St. Francis Xavier was Spanish, and worked as a missionary in Goa, a Portuguese province. Among Spain and Portugal, the concept of Inquisition originated during the Muslim occupation of Iberian peninsula after the conquest of Tariq ibn Ziyad, who defeated the Visigothic king Roderic in the battle of Guadalete in 711 AD and they remained in Spain for centuries, finally driven out in 1492. There is a tremendous amount of history here which I would argue is more enjoyable than movies and shows on Netflix and other streaming platforms or in theatres. For more information on the historic events during this period, including the birth of Portugal, research the Spanish Reconquista on history channels and source materials of the same. More on the Inquisition in point 7.
4. Spain + Portugal = Iberia. Portugal did not exist for a thousand years of Christian history. The peninsula was called Iberia in ancient times. During the Christian era it comprised of different kingdoms (Castille, Aragon and Navarre) later united into Spain. In 1143, Portugal  (blue region in map) was formed out of the Western part of then Spain. Both Spain and Portugal developed maritime technology - ships and navigation with a desire to reach the hitherto unknown parts of the world and spread Christianity there.
   
5. Catholic today = traditional Christian. In the english speaking Western world - USA, UK, most churches belong to Bible based offshoot movement of Christianity which has given birth to thousands of denominations. Historically Luther was the fountainhead of the reformation which began the splitting of Christianity into thousands of denominations. The countries we focus on here - Spain and Portugal remained with the historical Church from the time of Jesus Christ, called the Catholic Church. The reason this is important is because from an Indian context, the most influential country is the UK and the British monarchy through the East India Company ruled the Indian subcontinent from the battle of Plassey 1757 to 1947 - roughly 190 years. The city of Bangalore where I live for example was a key British centre and so were cities like Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. The British also built the large network of rail routes across the country to effectively transport goods/people mainly for economic gain. The British royal family today are successors of king Henry VIII who severed ties with the Catholic church so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope (head of the Catholic Church) denied his request for annulment of his first wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon. Henry VIII founded the Anglican church in 1534.
6. In Indian context, Portugal is important because they occupied Goa. More about how and why later. Spain and Portugal both pioneered discovery of distant lands and they had an agreement dividing the world into kingdoms which the Spanish and Portuguese would explore, conquer and colonise. The Spanish crown sent Hernan Cortez and Christopher Columbus thereby claiming Latin America and the Portuguese later brought parts of South America under their influence. On the other hand the Portuguese under the explorers Bartolmeu Dias and Pedra Alvares Cabral ventured around the the coast of Africa and rounded the Cape of Good Hope. It was the famous explorer Vasco da Gama followed by Alfonso de Albuquerque and Francisco de Almeida who first established Portuguese presence in Goa and Cochin. Besides India the Portuguese and Spanish brought parts of Indonesia, Philippines and Japan under their influence. Other major European naval powers in an Indian context are the British, French and Dutch.
7. Started in 1478 in mainland Spain, the Spanish Inquisition was imposed as an enquiry on Christians who had converted from Islam and Judaism reported to be going back to their former religious practices. As a result of this inquisition people fled to Portugal so Portugal started their own Inquisition in 1536. The key point to note with both these Inquisitions is that they were applied on Christians to ensure they were faithful to the faith that they officially professed.
8. St. Francis Xavier, besides working as a Christian missionary in Goa, also worked as a missionary in Indonesian islands of Maluku and Ternate, Japan and off-shore China. St. Francis Xavier was not an ordinary priest, but had the very important position of Apostolic Nuncio. Nuncio is an official representative of the Universal Catholic Church of Rome in a territory or country. St. Francis Xavier was at the position of an Ambassador in todays language in all these lands mentioned above. In his role as Nuncio, he wrote a number of letters to the Pope and monarchs of countries like Spain and Portugal in whole colonies he worked.

Now, let's look at the paragraph in the actual letter from St. Francis Xavier regarding the request for the Inquisition.

Date: 16th May, 1546

To: King John III of Portugal

The second necessity for the Christians is that your majesty establish the holy Inquisition because there are many who live according to the Jewish law and according to the Mohammedan law without any fear of God or shame of the world. And since there are many who are spread around the fortresses, there is a need of the holy Inquisition and of many preachers.

This is the only letter of St. Francis Xavier where the Inquisition was requested.

1. Firstly note that the focus of the letter is not any other religious group but the Christians "second necessity for the Christians". Ostensibly these were converts to Christianity based on point 2 below.
2. Secondly, the examples cited are of those Christians who are practising Jewish/Muslim law and way of life. Notice that nothing is mentioned about Brahmins or Hindus. Not directly and not even an indirect reference made using words like heathen/pagan.
3. The most astounding aspect of this letter is the place from where it was written. As mentioned already, St. Francis Xavier was a Spanish missionary working besides Goa in islands of Indonesia, Japan and off-shore China. The letter was written from the fort of Amboina (picture below) in the island Maluku of Indonesia. The word fortresses mentioned in this letter give us a clue of where it was written from. Therefore the letter was not written from any part of India but from an Indonesian island.
   
4. The word Indonesia means islands of India. This is how these Portuguese colonies were addressed during that period. But the only Portuguese colony in present day India is Goa and there is a huge distance between Goa and Amboina. One needs to travel from the Arabian Sea, thousands of kilometres across the Indian Ocean to reach this Maluku island of the Indonesian archipelago.
5. As mentioned in the first point in the Context section, Christianity is a missionary religion and has been so since the very beginning. In the very beginning of the book of Acts in chapter 2, the apostle Peter preaches and 3000 are added to the number of Christians. St. Paul made 4 missionary journeys the last which ended with his beheading in Rome. The missionary nature of Christianity is not a changing phenomenon based on historical and political situation. Rather it comes from one of the most important command of Jesus Christ, based on its location at the very end of the Gospel of Matthew and Mark. It is one of the last recorded command of Jesus in the Gospels.
6. For the first 300 years Christianity underwent severe persecution - worship was forbidden so Christians worshipped in tombs called catacombs and early Christians were crucified, burned, beheaded, thrown to lions and subjected to every conceivable torture and execution. There was no temporal benefit but every possible suffering and danger for those early Christians and the same is true even today. My ancestors faced severe persecution under Tipu Sultan the "tiger of Mysore", having their ears and nose cut off and marched hundreds of kilometres given a choice to apostatise and if they refused thrown down from a steep precipice to their deaths. More recently, several missionaries were killed in India instigated by right wing hindutva elements - Graham Staines and his 2 sons aged 10 and 6, Sister Rani Maria, several Christians in Kandhamal, Odisha; and just over a year ago Manipur Christians, who still are suffering totally ignored by the right wing government in the state and center.

Understanding these points it becomes clear the depth of lies and propaganda from the hindutva elements. There is nothing new about hatred of Christianity and propaganda against the Holy Catholic(Universal) Faith. The mockery of Jesus Christ and the Apostles at the ongoing Paris Olymipics in a disgusting Last Supper drag performance is just the latest in the long list. What is needed is a dispassionate objective investigation of the facts and true history in the face of those who work feverishly to rewrite a false version for the consumption of unassuming public.

Are all women better than their husbands?

Recently I heard a male preacher saying "all women are better than their husbands". A minute later the same preacher said "My wife is better than me in some areas" and "I'm better than my wife in some areas". This got me thinking about the this statement. As a Catholic, my mind immediately went to the Holy Family, where Mary was certainly better than St. Joseph because she was conceived immaculate in her mother's womb. Mary was without sin is considered the greatest of the human race. In support of his statement the preacher named 3 couples where he said this is true.

I then applied logic to this and the preachers logic seems to be that of all married couples he has encountered in every case the woman was better than her husband. This preacher has probably not encountered every couple alive today and even if he did, he couldn't have encountered couples in the past. Even in case of the couples alive today, it seems that the judgment criteria cannot be perfect because the judge is a human who has limitations. The fact that mankind has been continuously making scientific discoveries and our knowledge is improving over the years is a testament to the fact that we are not perfect.

Biologically, men and women's brains are different. The areas for violence and sex are larger in men's brains and in women's brains the chemicals that control these are more. Therefore in non-violence women are biologically better equipped than men. This seems to suggest that women are better at avoiding conflict and maintaining peace. But biology is not the only indicator of behaviour if it were then we would not be free to choose our actions. But we can act against our impulses. Someone who feels the urge to act violently can control, overcome and channel this impulse in a non-violent direction. If this was not possible, there would be no sin in violating the sixth commandment. Even outside Christianity most people agree in agency and role of the will. Because people have free will, they are responsible for their actions. Even determinists who believe in fate and/or predestination would have difficulty explaining why we have civil laws as guidelines of behaviour. The purpose of any kind of laws is to educate, inform and guide people to act in ways to keep the laws and avoid contravening them. This comes with the implict assumption that people have the capacity to overcome their undesirable impulses.

If the preacher's statement on the superiority of women implies that women are superior in every aspect, applicable to all couples alive today, we can think of a practical, empirical challenge to this assertion - world records. Most physical world records are held by men. In case of these world record holders for example, unless none of them are married, at least the man's wife is unlikely to be better than him in the world record category. Usain Bolt's would probably beat his wife at the 100 meter sprint. Eliud Kipchoge would likely lag behind him if they competed in a marathon together.

Circling back to the biological difference in the brain capacity for violence and sex, the Bible command to men to love their wives as Christ loved the Church calls men to channel their energy to battle their own passions and deny themselves as Christ denied himself. The ultimate call and test of manhood I believe is the readiness to sacrifice oneself. Along with tendency to violence comes the willingness to take risks. In every society, it is men who are expected to take risks to defend their family. Men perform tasks which involves serious risk of bodily harm and injury.

The Christian command challenges men to a sacrificial love which should lead us to break our bodies and shed our blood daily in love of our spouses and for our children. It's not how hard you hit, but how hard you can get and keep moving forward, says Rocky. The greatest man fought and defeated the greatest enemy - Satan.  Jesus Christ in doing this conquered mankind's greatest adversary and is the perfect example for us men. Following this example, the Apostles, martyrs and Saints gladly gave up their lives to show that this can be practically lived out by mortals.

We have discussed examples of couples where women are superior to men and found areas where men are better than their wives. We have looked at biological and empirical angles to this question. Overall it seems that among married couples, women are better than their husbands in some areas and men are better than their wives in others. So what is the takeaway from this?

"Men, love your wives" and "women, submit to your husbands" says the Bible. Today with the prevalence of Feminism especially in Western and Christian communities, the desire to reverse male violence can take us to the other extreme of mindlessly comparing and increasing the rift between men and women. I think we in Christendom need to be aware of the origins and effects of radical Feminism. Carrie Gress's book "The End of Woman: How smashing the patriarchy has destroyed us" talks about some of these but a fuller discussion in this article would be both premature and unjust, because I have not yet completed my reading of the book and there is so much to share on these points that I couldn't possibly do justice to it in this article.

For now, I like to conclude by saying that God who created both man and woman created us equal in dignity and partners and collaborators in building the family, the basic building block of society and the microcosmic church. Both men and women are created in the image and likeness of God and called to allow Him to perfect us through the grace of Sacramental marriage and help each other reach heaven, our destination. Not only the partners but also children entrusted to our care. As couples decisions should be made through discussion and dialogue between spouses. Each of the Biblical commands to men and women should be taken by the same sex and not thrust on the opposite sex.