There is an ongoing discussion concerning the Christianity of Beowulf: were the Christian elements imposed upon an existing pagan poem? Is Beowulf a Christ-figure? How (or why) would a pagan poem contain Christian imagery? What Christian principles are being taught, if this poem is viewed as a teaching tool? I believe that these and other questions are missing the underlying purpose of the narrator/poet;. I find that the scriptural references are all to not only Old Testament but pre-Mosaic scripture (within the first nine chapters of Genesis), and that the poet/narrator is making use of parallels between the earliest Old Testament society and that of the pagan Danes and Geats in order to bridge the gap between pagan and Christian. As Alain Renoir comments, scholars have found "everything between so-called essential paganism at one extreme and the story of Christian salvation at the other"(108), but as Michael D. Cherniss advises, we have "no evidence that the Beowulf-poet intended that his poem be read as allegory, Christian, pagan or otherwise"(130).

The parallels between the pagan society of Beowulf and the early history of the Hebrews seem to offer an excellent opportunity to bridge the gap between pagan and Christian. The history of the spread of Christianity is full of examples of pagan stories, symbols and celebrations being reinterpreted and incorporated into the calendar and liturgy of the Christian church. The church leaders used a variety of topes to find an image of Christ which would be relevant to a particular society. The images of sheep and shepherd, of guardian of the helpless, are meaningful to a pastoral people, but not particularly resonant for a warrior society. For Beowulf and his people, the early Old Testament society of warrior-tribes, with its strong emphasis on kinship and loyalty to one's lord, would seem a logical introduction to the Almighty God of the Christians. As Tolkein notes, the poet "turned naturally when delineating the great King of Heorot to the Old Testament" (28). The Bible of the narrator/poet is that of the warrior rather than the shepherd. Malcolm Godden comments on "how intensely and productively the Anglo- Saxons were engaged with the Old Testament" (206), through commentaries, sermons, and discussions of military and political issues, and calls Beowulf "in many ways the most imaginative response to the old Testament" (207).

The first scriptural referent in Beowulf is the story of Cain's murder of his brother Abel--a story with powerful resonance in any society in which kinship is valued, and most particularly appropriate in the context of Hrothgar's court. His thane Unferth is accused by Beowulf of fratricide, and he is not contradicted, even though Beowulf makes it very clear that this is a highly stigmatized behavior, and thus a keen insult. References by the narrator to later events foreshadow the betrayal of Hrothgar's sons by his nephew. This is another example of kinship strife which again parallels Cain's murder of his brother, since Hrothgar has acted in the place of a father to his nephew.

Grendel, Beowulf's first adversary, is "an unblessed creature descended from Cain and condemned by the Creator" (Leyerle, 89). Like Cain, he bears God's mark making him different from others, symbolizing his alienation from humanity, and the wrath of God (Godes yrre baer, 711). As Cain's offspring, he can find no place in society, and his brutish nature is constantly exacerbated by the Danes' close kinship ties, in contrast to his outcast status. The importance of the Cain story is underscored by Grendel's nature and his behavior, which is totally outside the pale. He owes no allegiance to kin or lord, he walks by night, he kills and consumes Hrothgar's warriors, and no one knows who his father is, or if he had one. He is as removed from normal society as Lucifer when he fell from God's grace. As Berger and Leicester point out: . . . the scop's song, itself a bright island of praise, is followed immediately by the poet's dark sequel which we, but not the Danes, hear. If God himself in the midst of his leafy new world wove kinstrife as well as kinlove into the primal family structure, how could Hrothgar do less (or more)? To create a family, a society, a dynasty, or a gift-hall is to create those conditions which are inseparable from, and have no meaning apart from, social order: treachery, envy, isolation, and exile. To create an Inside is to create an Outside, but an Outside existing within the bonds of hall and family as well as beyond them (41). Grendel is the Outsider, the onlooker, the castaway, and he responds in the only manner he knows: with violence.

Most Anglo-American scholarship places the date of the poem somewhere between 700 and 1000. John D. Niles notes that "during the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries, . . . paganism of the Old Germanic type became increasingly the norm" among the peoples of Britain (84). Although scholars may never find consensus for a firmer date than this three hundred year span, the poem is placed well within the period in which Anglo-Saxons were moving from a tribal society composed of warlords and their thanes to a society united and ruled by a king whose authority could override that of the lords. "Germanic laws and customs took the place of Roman ones "(Niles 84), and the separate tribes began moving toward a kingdom united under one ruler. In the same way, the early Hebrew nomadic tribal lifestyle evolved into a kingdom ruled by kings or judges. At the same time that they were coming to see themselves as a single nation, though composed of many tribes, the Hebrews were moving from a view of their god as a tribal entity (one among many) to an understanding of His individuality as the supreme being, the one true God.

As Eric John points out in "Beowulf and the Margins of Literacy," all references to God are to the Lord, the Almighty God, ece Dryhten, the Creator, rather than references to the Lord of Hosts or of His engels (angels), Crist the Son of God, gast ( as in the Holy Spirit), the Trinity, or to saints, the cross or the Church, as are seen in truly Christian works (394). Robinson points out that these terms are cognates for titles used by the Hebrews and Christians in reference to their god, but are adaptations of pre-Christian vocabulary, chosen for their similarity in sense, though not in history. He says: Such adaptation of pre-Christian vocabulary to Christian concepts was a momentous event in the history of each of the Germanic dialects. . . . the Christianization of the vocabulary was a matter not of the displacement of pre- Christian meanings by Christian meanings but rather of the extension of pre- Christian meanings to include Christian concepts . . ." (86,87). God as Creator is represented in the Creation Song which celebrates the completion of Heorot. God is credited as the protector of the righteous warrior Beowulf after his victory over Grendel and his dam, admitting that he could have failed "if God had not protected me" (1658: nymte God mec scylde); Hrothgar's most immediate reaction to Beowulf's victory is to give "thanks to Almighty God" (928: alwealdan tanc), and to remind Beowulf that he has overcome the monsters "through God's might" (940: turh drihtnes miht). But even though Beowulf is seen by a number of critics as an allegorical representation of Christ the Redeemer, Christ Himself is not mentioned.

The latest scriptural reference, in terms of the order of events in the Old Testament, is to Noah and the great flood which destroyed Cain's wicked offspring: the giants, elves and other monsters of Cain's tribe. There is no mention of any later event from the Old or New Testament, nor of Moses or the Ten Commandments. Therefore, the focus of the scriptural references is to the time of the "old law," that is, the original covenant between Adam and God. When Beowulf is faced with the depredations of the fire dragon, he wonders if he is guilty of transgressing the "old law" (ofer ealde riht,2330) which is unwritten but underpins the society, beyond or below consciousness. The old law is the system by which a primitive people relate to their god(s) and to each other.

The Hebrews of the Old Testament, like the Danes and Geats, were organized by a strong kinship system, and fealty to their leaders; David, described as the "man after God's own heart," is their greatest warrior-king. The Hebrew custom of animal sacrifice to atone for transgressions against God parallels the Dane/Geat blood feud system as payment for insult or aggression. In both societies, blood, whether of animals or humans, has great power. In the ninth chapter of Genesis, verse nine, God speaks to Noah: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man" (KJV). This injunction is analogous to the law of blood-feud. In both cultures, laws were unwritten, but so strong a part of customary behavior as to seem inevitable and unalterable.

The law lived within the consciousness of each individual, and bound the people together. The most important tie was that of blood, and genealogy was through the male kinship group, their wives and offspring, and their domestic servants and slaves. The kinship group provided protection and established guidelines for inheritance and property settlement. In both societies, the kinship loyalty eventually gave way to loyalty to the lord; for the Hebrews, the next transition was to the bond between people and God, who offered protection and reward beyond the scope of an earthly lord.

Another point of contact between the pagan and the Christian culture, as pointed out by Renoir, is the "ideal of sapientia et fortitudo . . . shared by pagans and Christians alike and . . . found , for example in the Edda as well as in Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae" (108). Wisdom and courage are concepts valued and understood in many cultures, including that of the Old Testament Hebrews.

The history of the spread of Christianity is full of examples of Christian appropriation of pagan customs, celebrations, and places of worship, given a Christian symbolism, interpretation or allegory. When St. Augustine, the Apostle of England, was sent by Pope Gregory to convert the Anglo-Saxons, he was instructed to adapt local customs to Christian purposes. He appropriated pagan temples, destroying only the idols, and using the sites for churches. Whenever possible, he transformed pagan rites and customs into Christian practices. As Tolkein notes, pagan English and Norse imagination "was brought into touch with Christendom, and with the Scriptures" in England (21). The minds which still retain the native traditions of the older world more easily assimilate new faith and new learning when they are combined with those native traditions.

Halloween, now a children's holiday, was originally a Celtic festival for the dead, celebrated on the last day of the Celtic year. Elements of the festival were incorporated into the Christian holiday of All Hallow's Eve, the night before All Saints' (Hallows') Day. The date for Christmas, the feast of the birth of Jesus the Christ, was originally the date of the pagan festivities connected with the winter solstice. Since both 25 December and 6 January were dates used in various places for the celebration of the solstice, the church observes 25 December as if it were the actual date of the birth and the visit of the shepherds to the manger, and 6 January is the festival of the adoration of the Magi, or Epiphany; the intervening period is now called the Twelve Days of Christmas, and in some countries is a period of almost continual celebration. The preceding period, the Advent season, once a period of Christian meditation and reflection, has now become further adapted by the commercialism connected with Christmas in the Western world. Ironically, the process has come full-circle, from a pagan observance of the winter solstice, to a Christian celebration of the birth of the Christ, to a pagan celebration of materialism.

Likewise, the Christian Easter holiday was rooted in the Jewish Passover, with additional elements of the spring celebration of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, such as the custom of hiding colored eggs; originally a symbol of fertility and the renewal of earthly life in the spring, the eggs became for Christians a symbol of the risen Christ emerging from the tomb. From these examples, we can conclude that the appropriation of existing practices and beliefs from pagan to Christian usage was wide-spread. It is not much of a leap from these examples to a consideration of the possibility that the poet/narrator of Beowulf was doing something similar in limiting his theological references to a Biblical period closest to the way of life led by the righteous pagans he portrays, and which would be most sympathetically viewed by them. As Robinson says: . . . several scholars have noted the analogy between the Christianization of the Old English vocabulary and the early missionaries' conversion of pagan shrines to Christian uses, following the advice that Pope Gregory gave to Abbot Mellitus. The analogy is sound, for in both renovations the result is a fusion of Christian with pre-Christian elements: Anglo-Saxon Christianity supersedes the old lore but is content to subsist with echoes of the past (101). These renovations did not happen overnight, and the Beowulf-poet may have been an important link in the transition.

In the lord/thane relationship, with its emphasis on blood feud, loyalty, and honor, there is little similarity to the pastoral image of Jesus the tender shepherd caring for his flock. But the early Hebrews, with their organization along kinship lines, their prohibition against intermarriage with other tribes except to make peace or secure allies, and their observance of unwritten law offer several points of common interest.

The Christian allegorical interpretations of Beowulf certainly have historical and critical precedent; however, to speak of the Christian elements of the poem is to point to a curious void. There simply are no overtly Christian references in the work. And yet the emphasis on the transitory nature of human life, as spun out in the two sections of the poem, offers a motivation for examining the Christian system of beliefs, which holds out the hope of eternal life, eternal truth, and eternal purpose for human activity. The first section of the poem, focusing as it does on Beowulf's youth and his great victories over the monstrous Grendel and his dam, is full of light, and essentially hopeful. Beowulf achieves all that he attempts. Hrothgar and his people once more have the cleansed Heorot, the center and heart of their community. Beowulf and his band have gained honor and riches with which to return to their homeland.

The mood changes abruptly in the second part. Although Beowulf continues to achieve honor as a warrior, and graduates from thane to king, he is not exempt from the human frailty of aging. After fifty years as a good king, he faces not only the third and worst threat to him and his people, but the finality of his own death. Where he will go after death is as unknown as for Scylding at the beginning of the poem, though Wiglaf expresses the hope that Beowulf shall "abide in the Lord's keeping" (3109). Without the salvation offered by Christianity, his life seems futile, despite his greatness, thus partly accounting for the melancholy tone of the second part; " . . . each man and all men, and all their works shall die. . . . all glory . . . ends in night" (Tolkein, 23). The narrator also shares with his audience an awareness that Beowulf is not a truly satisfactory savior for his people, since without him they are eventually overwhelmed by their enemies, and there is no one to take his place. A deeper source of the melancholy tone is the narrator's revelation of his awareness of the fate of these honored but still pagan ancestors who had no opportunity for eternal salvation; and yet he is reluctant to concede their eternal damnation.

Critics who see Beowulf as an allegorical Christ-figure base their arguments on parallels between the passion of Christ and Beowulf's battle with the dragon. Beowulf, accompanied by ten thanes and the traitor who brought down the wrath of the dragon upon the people, goes to his end reluctantly, but in the realization that his end is fated. Wiglaf is the only one of his followers faithful to the end. Beowulf is mourned by twelve warriors (as Christ had, originally, twelve disciples), and a lone woman. Likewise, Christ in the garden of Gethsemene is betrayed by Judas, and spends His last night with ten sleepy, frightened followers, and His beloved disciple John who sought to comfort his lord. Jesus expresses His desire that He need not undergo the agony of the cross, but bows to the will of God. I maintain that analogous elements do not necessarily equal deliberate imitation; analog does not equal allegory; and yet, if the Beowulf-story is to be understood as an allegory, it supports my contention that the poet means to lead his listeners to a confrontation with their need for Christian redemption.

Efforts to portray Beowulf as a Christ-figure founder on the obstacle of Beowulf's death. The Christ is a spiritual and eternal Redeemer because only He triumphs over death, and offers eternal, rather than temporary, victory over the representatives of evil. Beowulf is unsatisfactory in this respect since he dies, and with him dies the future of his people, since they are left without a champion; the narrator can only hope that, because Beowulf allowed himself to be used as God's tool to overcome evil, God will find a place for him after death. The second section of Beowulf is infused with sorrow at the end of a noble, though pagan, way of life; Beowulf's fame will outlive him, but his people will be overcome by their enemies. Bravery can carry one only so far--to the grave. It remains for the listener to proceed with the narrator into the light of Christianity to find true meaning and redemption.

References:
Berger, Harry, Jr. and H. Marshall Leicester, Jr. "Social Structure as Doom: the Limits of Heroism in Beowulf." Old English Studies in Honour of John C. Pope.
Robert B. Burlen and Edward B. Irving, Jr., eds. U Toronto P, 1974.
Cherniss, Michael D. Ingeld and Christ. The Hague: Mouton, 1972.
Godden, Malcolm. "Biblical literature: the Old Testament."
The Holy Bible. Authorized King James Version.
Leyerle, John. "Beowulf the Hero and the King." Medium Aevum, vol. XXXIV, No. 2, 1965.
Niles, John D. "Locating Beowulf in Literary History." Exemplaria, Vol. V no. 1, Spring 1993.
Renoir, Alain. "Beowulf: A Contextual Introduction to its Contents and Techniques." Heroic Epic and Saga. Felix J. Oinas, ed. Indiana UP, 1978.
Robinson, Fred C. "Apposed Word Meanings and Religious Perspectives."
Beowulf: Modern Critical Interpretations. H. Bloom, ed. Chelsea House, 1987.
Tolkein, J.R.R. "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics." Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture. The Proceedings of the British Academy. London: Oxford UP, 1936.