Page - 119 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/01

Context This episode bears the title “The Lord’s Prayer” and is a striking example of the re- peated religious encounters that characterize Hirst’s script. Ragnar asks Athelstan to teach him a prayer familiar to him, within a context marked by their deep friend- ship and mutual recognition. As Athelstan prays the well-known words with Ragnar, the latter’s growing interest in his friend’s faith and convictions is also expressed. Ragnar’s openness to learning of the rituals of another religion runs throughout the first seasons as evidence of his fascination with the unfamiliar. Interpretation The encounter with religious paradigms and symbols that are not one’s own has a long history, as is revealed by the example of the material culture of the Viking Age. Andersson notes: “For much of the Viking Age, people in Scandinavia […] had two different religious systems to relate to: the older indigenous Norse religion (Ásatrú) and Christianity.”34 Often the two were blended through a process of acculturation, yielding a hybrid evident in surviving artefacts such as crucifixes, icons, shrines and pendants. Expeditions created contacts between Viking homelands in Scandinavia and Christian Europe, and in the tenth century, several Viking leaders were baptized. 34 Andersson 2016, 82. Fig. 5: Film still, Vikings, S2:E10 (00:33:50). 118 | René Erwich www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 103–126