Nå har jeg lest ferdig en interessant bok som jeg kjøpte (på salg) i St Olav bokhandel for et par år siden. Det er The Conversion of Scandinavia av den svenske historikeren Anders Winroth – som underviser ved Yale (les om ham HER og HER). Amazon skriver om boka:
In this book the author argues for a radically new interpretation of the conversion of Scandinavia from paganism to Christianity in the early Middle Ages. Overturning the received narrative of Europe’s military and religious conquest and colonization of the region, Anders Winroth contends that rather than acting as passive recipients, Scandinavians converted to Christianity because it was in individual chieftains’ political, economic, and cultural interests to do so. Through a painstaking analysis and historical reconstruction of both archeological and literary sources, and drawing on scholarly work that has been unavailable in English, Winroth opens up new avenues for studying European ascendency and the expansion of Christianity in the medieval period.