The Kingdom Come

A few years ago, my daughter did a school report on Iceland. After looking at the material she had gathered I became very interested in Iceland, to the point now I have a dream to visit Iceland someday. Iceland is a forgotten piece of American history. And I bet Icelanders would wince at me associating Iceland with America, after all Iceland considers itself as part of Europe. But the truth is, Iceland like Greenland was one of the first places established as part of the "New World".

If you recall your basic history, Iceland was settled in the late 800s A.D. by Norwegians, or Vikings as some would say. This is where the "European" identification comes in.

As this is a theological site, let's touch on the theological aspects of Iceland. Iceland began as a non-Christian nation, of Norse Myth. Unlike almost every other land settled by Europeans, Iceland had no human prehistory, no indigenous population, except perhaps the legend of Scottish monks that supposedly came to the island before the Vikings.

Christianity came to Iceland in a rather bizarre manner, as King Olaf of Norway, in about 996-999 AD made several attempts to Christianize the island. The island was on the cusp of civil war, due to the fact some Icelanders had converted and some had not. Eventually, the Icelanders agreed to a moderator, a Norse pagan priest whom alone would decide if Iceland should become a Christian nation. But a few exceptions were demanded. The Icelanders wanted to keep two customs which were otherwise contrary to Christianity. One custom was contrary to the Church simply on it being considered "uncivilized" whereas the other was considered completely pagan.

1. Eating Horsemeat
2. Infanticide -- killing unwanted babies by abandoning them in the wild

Although it seems the exceptions were allowed at first, eventually even these were banned.

Originally, the Church in Iceland was Roman Catholic but by 1540, under the Danish rule, Iceland was converted to Lutheran but with the Danish King as supreme head of the Church.

Today, the state Church is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland. But as with most countries, membership rolls of the Church is much greater than the actual attendance numbers. (The Church website claims 80% of Icelanders are members)

However, my interest in Iceland has little to do with its history and more to do with its landscape. The pictures of Iceland, and its many "hot springs" make it a very interesting place. Supposedly virtually treeless and with probably the most volcanic actively, Iceland is a very unique geography.

Maybe some day I'll get to visit.

More:
http://kirkjan.is/english/who-we-are/history