Page - 104 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/01

René Erwich “Someday Our Gods Will Be Friends” The VIKINGS Series as Embodiment of Religion and Liquefaction of Meaning Abstract This article reflects on the recent television series Vikings (CA/IE, 2013–) from a practi- cal-theological standpoint. It addresses the series as a serious expression of the relationship between film and religion. Narrative, reception, style and context are used deliberately to present themes related to the clash of pagan religion and Christianity. The article contends that the development and construction of Vikings can be viewed in light of a liquefaction of religion. Keywords Film and Theology, Practical Theology, Film as Embodiment of Religion, Liquefaction of Religion, Vikings Biography René Erwich is Principal of Whitley College, Melbourne, Australia, and full Professor of Prac- tical Theology at the University of Divinity, Melbourne. Before taking up his current position, Erwich was Research Professor in Theology at Ede Christian University, in the Netherlands. His interests are in the area of lived religion: media and religion, pastoral theology, narrative and ecclesiology. He is currently working on a book project on gender and theology. Introduction A quick scan of the Internet and other media reveals a variety of depictions and presentations of Vikings. In both the past and the present, “Viking” and “the Viking Age” have been used to conjure up a “warlike Viking tickling our imagination with horror and delight” or a fantasy figure and “male chauvinist symbol”. Both terms are present, Gunnar Andersson writes, in “authentic academic history and simulta- neously collective myth in the minds of millions, with social, economic, and political DOI: 10.25364/05.06:2020.1.6 “Someday Our Gods Will be Friends” | 103www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 103–126