UM Honors Blog 2020-2021

  In a time where women were seen as nothing more to men than another part of their property, it's a surprise that females were given such important roles in the epic, no matter how underlying they may be. Sure, there's some negative portrayals of women scattered throughout the plot, such as Grendel's mother, but on the other hand, there's quite a few role models to balance the scales back out. For example, the main ones are Wealhtheow and Hygd, the wives of the two kings, who help host the celebrations in the mead hall after battles. While some may see this as just another way that they had to "serve" their husbands, in reality this was an opportunity in the Anglo Saxon culture for women to be included in the social community without having to learn to fight. By handing out drinks, it was their job to show the ranking system in the hall, as can be seen during the scene where they start with the king and end with Beowulf, the newcomer. Then, once he defeats th...

     The last part of   Beowulf   reminded me of how Master Oogway left Shifu the responsibility of training the dragon warrior. I think it’s actually kind of fitting that he knew his time had come, yet he dove into battle against the dragon anyways knowing there would be even more glory awarded to his legacy if he went down fighting. Higlaf seemed to be placed in a position in a way so that the story of the Geats could have been continued after Beowulf’s death. Perhaps in a lost story somewhere?       A big question I’ve wrestled with throughout this epic is Beowulf’s fate when it comes to being remembered as a great hero or a glory-hungry fool. As I highlighted before in previous classes and blog posts, I’ve noticed a pattern of Greek, Roman, and now Medieval heroes being characterized by a respect for the deity (or deities) of their specific world. This to me points out that Beowulf is counted as the former, achieving great success in his ...

As soon as the medieval epic is completed, so too is Beowulf's life concluded. The great king died a hero and yet, the question still remains: Did Beowulf ultimately win or loose? If you have not yet watched Avengers: Endgame, then now would be an appropriate time to abandon this post. If, however, you have seen the film (or read the spoilers), then by all means, please, continue. To answer this pressing question, I am going to do a little character comparison and relate the unexpected expirations of both Beowulf and Iron Man. In their final moments, each man had to face their greatest foe. For Beowulf, it was the dastardly dragon and for Iron Man, it was Thanos. Each character had battled against hundreds of enemies in the past and because of this, they both possessed a massive amount of combat knowledge and general fighting experience. However, these "final bosses" were unlike any of the terrors that they had previously encountered. Each villain had its own set of ...

    The problem of women being inferior to men as started since the beginning of time. Therefore, this brings up the question of: "Why are so many queens mentioned in Beowulf ?" I think it is to give a lighthearted feeling to contrast the feeling of the doom and gloom of war. The women are polar opposites compared to the men in the epic. The men are shown to be mighty, powerful leaders who are supposed to fight for their country, while the women (queens) are shown to be strong in their mental nature. One section of lines I found very interesting were lines 1934-1940. This section says, "If any retainer ever made bold to look her in the face, if an eye not her lord's stared at her directly during daylight, the outcome was sealed: he was kept bound in hand-tightened shackles, racked, tortured until doom was pronounced--death by the sword, slash of the blade, blood-gush and death qualms in an evil display." This is intriguing since it is different from Greek cultur...

I'm going to get right to the point. Beowulf beheading Grendel after killing his mother just irks me. Like, I get it, Grendel was a monster and deserved to die. But he didn't deserve getting his body desecrated after his death. To be honest, I empathize with and almost pity Grendel's mother. She just wanted to have her son's body so she could get some closure. I get it. So when Beowulf beheads Grendel after he was already dead just seems egregious. It really makes me wonder the point of collecting trophies anyway. It just makes no sense. You'd think warriors would be respectful of their opponents, but no. Instead they displayed Grendel's arm and then his head once the arm was taken from them. It seems to me that a noble hero such as Beowulf would at least be respectful of the dead, but I guess not. But then again, maybe that's just me. Edit: Commented on Kaitlyn Terry's and Isabelle Ferguson's posts

       I will not lie I  come out of this reading with an extreme gratefulness for grammar and punctuation (even though I struggle with it sometimes). My mother always told me how necessary grammar and punctuation were and I finally grasped that. I feel a lack of periods in this book. I cannot say I could process the majority of what we have read thus far so I will pinpoint on what really touched me. the golden nugget emoting gifts.       "Past and present, God's will prevails. Hence, understanding is always best and a prudent mind. Whoever remains for long here in the earthly life will enjoy and endure more than enough." - Beowulf 1057-1061.  This small section calls to mind quite a few passages of scripture but honestly the scriptural context is not what stood out to me the most. My thought process while reading that is God's gift of limited lifetime. I very much believe that there is a reason God has limited life from 0-969 years...

     I'm not gonna lie, Grendel's mom gave my mind so many different pop culture references and I don't know why. However, I do know that modern society loves a good revenge story. I mean some of the most popular songs of the past few decades are about revenge (e.x. Better Than Revenge- Taylor Swift, Before He Cheats- Carrie Underwood, Bust Your Windows- Jazmine Sullivan). I, as someone who adores revenge stories, was immediately off-put by the immediate villainization of Grendel's mom. I mean, if someone killed your son, would you not also want revenge? There have been so many stories portrayed this way over the course of human history, the grieving female usually being the villain. My personal favorite has always been the story of Medusa.      I could tell something was off about the story when I first heard it at a young age, and as I got older I realized that I had been taught incorrectly. Medusa was not born a monster, she was taken advantage of. The m...

 Revenge can turn into such a vicious cycle of never ending punishment. Within Beowulf, there's a strong need to seek out that revenge, the revenge sadly being killing. When we see Beowulf, we see him as a hero. One who is held to a high standard and has achieved many goals. But we also see that Beowulf tells Hrothgar the he should fight for revenge for ones that are causing him true pain instead of sitting there mourning for what has happened. Revenge is a solid boomerang effect, an unending cycle. Each of act of retaliation brings another. It is a boomerang that cannot be thrown without bringing damage to the thrower. The revenge cycle can be held to a stop in two different ways: the first being getting revenge unit; there is no one to seek revenge out to OR a the nice, humane way by halting revenge by forgiveness. Do you ever feel the urge to "throw" revenge at someone? I commented on Lily and Caroline's post.

      Did anyone else notice the rather juicy subplot that's foreshadowed in the story? While I am unsure of whether it actually occurs within the epic as I cannot recall, it appears that Hrothulf, King Hrothgar's nephew is going to usurp the throne from Hrothgar's eldest son, his rightful heir. Just to refresh your memory of the characters: Hrothgar is king of the Danes. Hrothulf is Hrothgar's nephew.  Hrethric is Hrothgar's eldest son. Hrothmund is Hrothgar's second son. Wealhtheow is Hrothgar's wife, the queen. The epic foreshadows a lot. In fact, it almost foreshadows everything. Thus, when the text states, "...and Wealhtheow came to sit...between two good me, / uncle and nephew, each one of whom still trusted the other..." I know almost for certain that something is going to happen between the two men(1161-1164). The uncle is Hrothgar and the nephew is Hrothulf. After this statement is made, Wealhtheow gives a speech in which she advises Hrot...

    I appreciate a good villain backstory in every movie, book, show, etc.; so, I can’t help but compare Hrothgar to Grendel’s mother in this situation.  I picture Grendel’s mother just going about her evil life in her swamp home. She is under the impression that everything is fine, as she admires her walls- decorated with the weapons of evil creatures of the past. Up until this point, her darling son, Grendel, had been coming home happy. He was full of the carcasses of the fallen warriors of Heorot. Life was pretty good for a she-demon and her evil son. Out of nowhere, her baby boy just crashes into the cave, without an arm and on his death bed.       Hrothgar went to sleep with the belief that there was nothing else to fear, and his people were safe. Grendel was bested by Beowulf, and Grendel had been their only problem. Hrothgar is heartbroken when he wakes to find that his dearest counselor and friend has been killed, after they thought their ...

 I think all of us have been in a literature class long enough to know that revenge always backfires. I am looking at you, Iliad . I find it interesting that in every story we have read so far, revenge has been a common denominator. I do not understand why people never figured out that revenge makes things worse. Revenge plays a huge role in Beowulf . In the assigned section, revenge is twofold. There is revenge enacted by the mother of Grendel and by Beowulf.  The first revenge is when Grendel’s mother comes to the place of Grendel’s demise and lashes out against the people associated to Beowulf (89-90). The second is when Beowulf hunts Grendel’s mother and fights her. Both instances involve killing because someone has been killed. This type of action is blatantly seen in the texts we read last semester. We discussed how when one kills it does not seem to stop. It continually shifts from my people being killed to me killing the people who killed. It is very interesting to thi...

In Section 2 of Beowulf, there’s a whole paragraph dedicated to detailing Beowulf’s armor. And to be completely honest, it reminded me of Ephesians 6 where it talks about Christians donning the armor of God. Ephesians 6:12 says that “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (NIV) Beowulf put on a glittering helmet that was of beaten gold and “adorned with boar-shapes; since then it had resisted every sword.” (Beowulf, line 1453-1454) It then describes the sword with “its ill-boding patterns had been tempered in blood. It had never failed the hand of anyone who hefted it in battle, anyone who had fought and faced the worst in the gap of danger.” (lines 1460-1463) The helmet and sword really reminded me of Ephesians 6:17 which says “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (NIV) I’m not ...

Okay, so one thing that I thought was pretty interesting was the differentiation between Grendel and his mother. Grendel, in my opinion, is more of a representation of pure evil than his mother. Grendel terrorized Heorot because he was envious of peoples' happiness and joy. Unlike his mother, he continued to attack the town for a long period of time, at least long enough for word to spread to Beowulf. Grendel's mother only attacked the town once, and in doing so she reclaimed her child's detached arm. To me, that is more of an honorable thing than an evil one. We see these kinds of actions in Greek epics and other war stories where the warriors or soldiers go and collect the bodies or amour of the fallen. She also was also aggravated for an understandable reason. Her son was killed. To me, even though she may have represented as a more primordial evil than Grendel, I feel as if she was less evil. She was more like a "Mama-bear" with a vengeance sort of character. ...

 I'm going to say this now. I don't think Grendel's mom was a monster. In the same way one may say Medusa was a monster, I suppose you could claim that Grendel's mom was too... but neither of them truly were. Let's look at the facts. In Beowulf, beginning at line 1258, it says "...Grendel's mother, / monstrous hell-bride, brooded on her wrongs... [after Beowulf killed Grendel] his mother had sallied forth on a savage journey, grief-wracked and ravenous, desperate for revenge." Besides that hell-bride part, all we really have is a grieved mother who lost her son. In modern times, we'd probably sympathize with her. Later on, she ravages the hall of warriors and slaughters many men, taking the hand of her son back with her so that the soldiers no longer had their prize. Okay, maybe murdering isn't like a great thing. But how is she different from Achilles? He slaughtered countless men due to avenge the loss of his husband  best friend and he was c...

     Between lines 1202 and 1214, Beowulf is told the story of Hygelac the Great causing his own death because Hygelac decided that he had to fight the Frisians. Hygelac became extremely proud in his own abilities after he successfully defended his treasure. Hygelac's pride lead him to believe that he could beat the Frisians. Line 1205 best describes what happened to Hygelac by saying "Fate swept him away because of his proud need" (Heaney 85).       What happened to Hygelac has happened so many times to so many people throughout history. Someone becomes so caught up in their success that they think they can take anyone one and it becomes their downfall. You would think that people would see this and would try to stay humble and not get prideful, but pride is so deceptive in that you won't realize until its too late. Falling victim to pride is as much of a danger to Christians as it is to the world that the same thing can happen to us. It happened to K...

There are so many thematic elements within Beowulf and yet, the one that I find myself the most attracted to is the least scholarly of them all. Still, each time I read bout Grendel's death and his mother's rampage of revenge, I cannot help but ponder the immense ferocity that many authors include in their motherly characters. Many of us are familiar with the Mama Bear analogy which illustrates how, generally, most mothers are soft and lovable, but if their children are ever threatened, a whole new monster arises! Disney's movie Brave better displays this imagery (hence the reason for my title).  Regardless, there are many other examples of this fiery maternal instinct. In Confessions , we learned more about Augustine's mom and the overt passion that went into all of her prayers about her son. She only ever wanted what was best for him, similar to Trevor Noah's mother in Born a Crime . In that story, we are introduced to the author's highly determined mother a...

     Although the title of my blog may seem sacrilegious, I promise it is not! The Danes had suffered much harm at the hands of Grendel during Section I of Beowulf, and it can be assumed that they were fearful and dismayed at the turn of events. They went from having an amazing feast and a celebration to having to cower in their homes in the wake of Grendel's destruction. The author of Beowulf was clearly setting the stage for a heroic, above average character to restore peace to the Danes. This character was none other than Beowulf.      Now why would I use the designation 'messiah' to possibly describe Beowulf? Beowulf came from the Geats after hearing of the horrendous creature Grendel. His name was already quite popular in the surrounding areas because of his strength and might. Even Hrothgar describes Beowulf as having the strength of thirty men in each of his hands. Beowulf was clearly exalted above the normal manhood status and surely news of his arr...

  Something that stood out to me in this portion of Beowulf was the writer's apparent knowledge of Scripture. Numerous times throughout the reading I found references to Biblical history and Biblical representations of God.  When the author introduces us to the lineage of the monsters, Grendel and his mother, he alludes to the story of Cain and Able.  "And from Cain there sprang misbegotten spirits, among them Grendel..." (Beowulf, 1265-1266). Later in the story, the author describes the hilt of the sword Beowulf uses to slay Grendel's mother. Engraved upon the hilt was a depiction very similar to The Flood of Genesis 6-7. "...the Almighty made the waters rise, drowned them in the deluge of retribution" (1692-1693). "Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth...God wiped out every living thing on the earth..." (Genesis 7:19, 23).  Because the story of  Beowulf was set in a place where there was no apparent knowledge of Chri...

 Does the glorification of fighting provoke more violence in the book? Throughout the book we see fighting being glorified and rewarded. This can be both positive and negative. It can be positive in a sense that those who fought deserve a reward for fighting and winning the battle. This can be seen in modern terms when our military is rewarded for fighting. Our military fights to protect our freedom and for that they deserve a reward. They also risk their lives to protect us and deserve to be rewarded for that. Our military fights to protect us when it is necessary but in the book we see that Beowulf not only fights to protect and win but he flaunts his win and give no mercy. The difference in our military and Beowulf is the intentionality behind the fighting. Our military fights to protect our country and it’s people but the intentionality behind Beowulf’s fighting is questionable. It is because of Beowulf’s unnecessary brutality that I must question if the reason he fights is for...

     Well, like-son-like-mother I suppose. The second part of   Beowulf   is definitely a bit more interesting than the first in my opinion, mainly due to the fact that we see the hero of the story have to adapt to aquatic combat; something that was uncommon in the time period it was written in. This sequel of sorts is what I was anticipating when we read Homer’s   Iliad   last semester, so it’s a relief that we get some story continuation here. The fight with Grendel’s mother once again hinted at previous stories written by the Greeks and Romans with the sword on the wall of the underwater vault that looked like it was made to slay giants. The decision by the writer of the original tale to keep continuity with the older stories adds a unique dynamic that really helps the world-building of the epic. I find it quite ironic that the only people who really stayed to see if Beowulf would return were the people he traveled with, just goes to show ...

Beowulf is the hero in this story. That is clear when he is introduced and hears about the beast wreaking havoc on the people, and when he actually slays Grendel and then must fight Grendel's mother. But what I want to talk about is how we know he is a hero not solely based on his actions. We can see what type of character he is based on the way is written to carry himself and to speak.  I've learned that in Greek literature, a hero is not always the perfect protagonist who does the right thing and saves the day, but rather someone who has shown great strength and accomplishment, or who had power or favour from the gods. Beowulf is similar and yet very different. While Beowulf had shown great strength and accomplishment, he also might be seen as arrogant, vain, or pompous. That is how we know he was a hero. He was written with such boastful demeanour, not as vanity, but because that is customary heroic behaviour. When I read Beowulf in high school, we learned that in Anglo-Sax...

Marriage, or as the priest in the movie The Princess Bride says, "Mawwiage", is a beautiful thing. The joining of two people in love (hopefully) so they can happily live the rest of their lives out together. Marriage in Beowulf is, well, interesting. I bring up marriage in reference to the bard's saga that he sings in lines 1070 to 1158 about the attack in Friesland, where Hnaef, king of the Danes, met his demise. In this tale of vengeance and despair, Hildeburh, a Danish princess, is married to the Frisian king Finn in a marriage meant to bring peace between the feuding countries. I found this tale particularly interesting because the bard explains that among the Danish and Frisian casualties were Hildeburh's Frisian son and her Danish brother Hnaef. Hildeburh had losses on both sides of the battle, both of them blood-kin, and yet she remained impartial to the battle because what else was she to do? I bring this up because I'm unsure as to where I stand on the wh...

What is Beowulf’s chain mail made out of?  Like seriously, Beowulf’s went Mano y Mano with the mother of the beast as well as some water monsters. The only thing that kept Beowulf alive was his chain mail. I could not believe the trauma that the armor went through. I feel like Beowulf should have had a plan instead of just rushing in like he did. At least scout some of the area to know what you are up against.  I would go as far to say that Beowulf relied too much on his chain mail which is not the smartest of moves. Chain mail is really effective for protecting against slashing and blunt force damage, but it is helpless when monsters try to tear you limb from limb. Chain mail is almost always worn with gambeson which is a thick cloth located underneath the chain mail. If Beowulf included this particular pair of garments together, the water would have absorbed into the gambeson which would have resulted in restricted movement (a.k.a. The last thing anyone needs or wants in bat...

      During the celebration following Grendel's death, something seemed fishy to me, and that just may be because I've read the book and seen the movie before. Everything about it just appeared way too forced for me, especially when the queen was involved. She made a big show in saying that there were to be no whispers in Herot that night and that she has complete trust in Hrothgar and Beowulf both. While all of this may look like a queen just consoling her exasperated country, it felt an awful lot like the epic's way of foreshadowing the next big attack. Things always get worse before they can get better, and although Grendel took a heavy toll out of Hrothgar's kingdom, Beowulf killing him was just a little too easy for all the mess the monster created prior to his arrival. The queen's heavily enforced relief only further proves my point.       Even the poetry sang at the feast was suspicious and could be interpreted as foreshadowing. Not only was it...

Whenever I read this last semester for Brit Lit, I was really interested in writing a research paper discussing the interjections of the sides stories by the poets. I never got around to it in there, so I am going to do it here! What I want to know is who each character in the Finnsburg Episode (the second story for those of you who don't have that annotation) is supposed to represent in the bard's eyes. There are three main characters discussed, Finn, Hildeburh, and Hengest. Both Hildeburh's brother and son, who are Danes, die to the hands of Finn's men, and the successor of the Danes, Hengest, quickly brings justice upon those who murdered them. After a winter of recieving tributes from Finn because of his loss, Hengest's "...longing woke  in the cooped-up exile for a voyage home -  but more for vengeance, some way of bringing  things to a head..." (1138-1141) Inevitably, Hengest recieves what he thinks is the weregyld , or the blood-price, for the bothe...

     In Beowulf,  the story is a never-ending, action-packed epic, and the reader is thrown into new challenges. I view Beowulf's journey as a cycle in life since Beowulf is constantly going through highs and lows. During the part where he has to dive into the water, I thought that was truly inspiring for a human (like myself) to overcome his struggles with great courage. Also, he defeated Grendel with his bare hands! Just when things started looking up, then he has to kill Grendel's mother; it was like Deja vu. This epic truly embodies the human feeling of living by a week by week basis, where every day is different from the last.       Like we talked about in class, I realized that Beowulf plays the part of a human but also has the characteristics like Jesus. Beowulf became the saving grace to rescue his people from the monsters like how Jesus became the atonement for sin by dying on the cross. So to me, Beowulf is a mixture of the human idea of...

       In the beginning lines of Beowulf, the story begins with an orphan boy, Shield Sheafon, who became king. Sheafon conquered many tribes and gained treasures by having the conquered lands pay him tribute. Even though Shield's army is loyal to him, Sheafon does not leave them unaccounted for. Sheild makes sure that his army is protected as well as financed. With every load of tribute Shield would get, the king would always make sure his warriors had a piece of the wealth. This encourages the warriors to do more heroic things for their community and for the king. The author of Beowulf makes sure the readers know that Shield was a good king by literally saying, "That was one good king" (11).      Even though the story of this good king is not the main story at hand, I wanted to write about it since I believe this is an important topic to talk about. America does not have kings, but we do have leaders. I just wanted to bring up this question. If the a...

       My whole life I have heard that actions speak louder than words. I have always found this to be true in life. This idea is brought up in Beowulf  when the book states," Behavior that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere." I believe this idea will be a major idea in this book because of the warfare during this time period. It is also important to point out that during this time period the gaining of glory could be associated with warfare. Shield in the book is talked about as a one day powerful person and he later dies in battle. I believe that this shows us that at the time fighting in battle brought power and glory to you. Just like this statement was true during the time period of the book I also find it to be true now. Although the times have majorly changed this idea is still prevalent in todays society.     In todays society you can see this statement in two different lights. We can recognize this statement still in t...

            Beowulf , like many stories, makes numerous Biblical references. It may sound dumb but I do geek out a little bit over the fact that Grendel is a descendant of Cain and is not just this random banished ugly creature but is banished as punishment for Cain's killing of Abel.      One of my favorite references and quotes is "...The Almighty Judge / of good deeds and bad, the Lord God, / Head of the Heavens and and High King of the World, / was unknown to them. Oh, cursed is he / who in time of trouble has to thrust his soul / in the fire's embrace, forfeiting help; / he has nowhere to turn...(Beowulf 15). The Danes aimlessly sacrificed, built shrines, and prayed to pagan gods. Because they did not know the real God, they had no real source of hope. I think it is important reminder of why it is so important that we as believers share the good news of Christ. We are so blessed with the knowledge ...

  So Beowulf...what a hero. Arriving with a band of soldiers decked out in all their armor, Beowulf comes to defend his ally from the terrible monster, Grendel. He defends his reputation as this fantastic, almost god-like warrior.  But is he really a hero? Yes, he proves himself a worthy match for Grendel. In keeping for a prize the monster's arm, torn off in their struggle, Beowulf displays his mastery over Grendel. But does a shiny coat of armor, or the strength to tear limb from limb make a hero? Recently, I rewatched Marvel's Thor. The entire premise of the movie is Thor's journey from the arrogant, unworthy guy that he was, to the true hero he becomes. Beowulf, as an arrogant warrior, protects his family's honor by defending the Danes, allies, from Grendel. Thor tries to defend his father's honor by challenging the Frost Giants. He defeats them initially, but they remain enemies; the Frost Giants wait from afar for an opportunity to exact their revenge. Grendel...

       The first part of Beowulf  really painted a picture that the people of the age were looking for a hero that would personify the virtues that they wanted society to aim for. Much like the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians before them, the people of the medieval era really seem to have been trying their hand at establishing a lore of the world around them. The virtues promoted include a sense of "honor" that is oddly based off fairness rather than might or glory.     This sense of honor is explained when Beowulf begins a boast to Hrothgar and his company, and really sets the scene for the absolute brawl that would later break out between him and Grendel. After taking his armor off, he explains his viewpoint on the fight: "When it comes to fighting, I count myself as dangerous any day as Grendel. So it won't be a cutting edge I'll wield to mow him down, easily as I might. He has no idea of the arts of war, of shield or sword-play, although he...

 So I decided to jokingly read the weird non English side... and might I say, I'm glad we aren't being forced to translate that because I'd probably drop out of school... again. But all jokes aside, did anyone feel a type of heroic feel to Beowulf? We see much of Grendel taking over the lives of people and becoming a harsh demon over many lives. Beowulf travels to take down a beast that wrecked a society as if that demon controlled so many people. Beowulf possessed a strong amount of strength and leadership that allowed people to him as a fearless warrior. This story of an act of a warrior attitude to defeat a beast reminds of nothing other than the story of David and Goliath. Looking in 1 Samuel 17, Saul saw a huge giant and a young, insignificant-looking man. David, however, saw a mortal man defying an invincible God. David knew he would not be alone in this fight as he faced Goliath. I could be way off with this, but does anyone else see a relation? Also lets end this wi...

  I find it interesting how books and movies have used dragons as the antagonist, and I really wonder why dragons are the most or one of the most chosen creatures to be the antagonist. Of course, dragons are epic and beautiful creatures, but what makes people find them so fascinating...? I have heard that each people group have great legends of dragons roaming through their country, so I find that could be a possibility  why  we use them in so many of our books and movies.    One reason I believe dragons are commonly used is because they are supposed to represent Satan. Time after time in Beowulf, the Danes talked about Grendel in such a negative connotation like he was at Satan’s level of sinfulness. Here is one example on page nine (102-107): “Grendel was the name of this grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and...

As I was reading through this, I found its plot and storyline to be very familiar. So far it has reminded me a lot of the Epic of Gilgamesh , the Witcher series, and even a little bit of the of the story of Van Helsing. Honestly these are my favorite kind of story lines. An evil monster of epic proportions that cannot be defeated by any mere mortal meets in combat with a unique man with immeasurable abilities. Even thought I have never read this before, I can only assume that Beowulf is going to have to sacrifice himself at the expense of the fate of the world if this plot line does continue to resemble others like it. Now, I may be joking, but I will be quite astonished if I am correct in my guess/assumption.  What are your opinions and thoughts about the story? P.S. I commented on Caroline Tucker's and Addison Zanda's posts.

 Wow.  That was really all I could think while reading Beowulf. I really enjoyed reading it. I do not know if it is because it was a light fun read compared to everything else we have read this semester or it is because it is a really cool story. Either way, we will find out as we keep reading. There were multiple questions and thoughts I had while reading but I am only going to focus on one. In the beginning of the poem, when it was describing Shield’s funeral, the “burial” process reminded me of Viking burials. In Beowulf, Shield’s body is placed in a boat with treasures and his armor. If my memory is correct, the Vikings would do the same with their beloved leaders. They would bury them in their ship with their battle gear, treasures, and I want to say their animals and maybe their family. I might be getting confused with the Ancient Egyptians. I believe that what was done in Beowulf is the same as what the Vikings did except for one major difference. In Beowulf, Shield is ...

 My church recently had out youth discipleship weekend. The hours and days of prep in the production set up side often seemed unending. One problem after another incited frustration or distracted from purpose. An hour before the weekend started the production team, the youth pastors, the guest band and speaker, as well as other various staff gathered backstage. Will Moore (the guest speaker led the dialogue) "If there is one thing I ask of y'all for this weekend is that you would get out of the way. We know and have confidence in God's will for this revival weekend but sometimes our pride, our stress, our planning, and our prep can get in His way. So before we start discussion I would love to ask everyone to get in the preferred posture of prayer and bring all of you to the Lord privately. Pray that He would move your heart this weekend and move you as His tool do enact His will."  we prayed over that before the meeting and then we discussed the ultimate Goal of the w...

       At what point does worship become more for entertainment than for the glory of God? I think this is a question we must ask as Christians in the church. I believe in todays society army people lose the meaning of worship. Often times people get caught up in the melodies and catchy tunes of worship and forget that worship was designed to worship and praise and glorify God. It is important to remember what the words are and connect to the words more than to the tune. Augustine states, ".......it is not the singing that moves me but the meaning of the words when they are sung in a clear voice to the most appropriate tune,......." It is important that we remember what we are singing about and who we are singing for.     I believe it is important for us to find a balance in worshiping. It is ok for the tune to be catchy but we must be able to strip the song down to its words and be moved by the words. It is important that we be moved more by the ...

 While reading the words of St. Basil, the image of someone drinking medicine with honey around the rim of the cup just refused to leave my mind, so naturally that's what I'm going to talk about.  In the allegory, the lyrics of the songs are the bitter medicine. The music and melody that accompany the song are the honey. They make the meaning of the song digestible and pleasing. For those who are unable to understand what the song is saying, the honey makes the song enjoyable, even without them grasping the reality of what the song is about. For those who do understand the meaning of the song, the music is just like the icing on the cake. Not completely necessary, but you immediately realize that something's not there if it's missing. However, I disagree with what Augustine says about this. I personally see nothing wrong with getting swept up into the music as opposed to the meaning behind the songs. As long as one does not completely forget the meaning of these songs, ...

      My favorite phrase within all that we've read this weekend is "a career of worship." The monks dedicated to it. Reading about the eight services which made up the day of the Canonical Hours or the Divine Office was quite convicting for me. It appears the monks are functioning from dusk til dawn. During all that time, everything they are doing is being done to bring glory to the Lord. They do, essentially, a quiet time in the early morning hours, eat, study, worship, and work(and their work as monks was not really anything extraordinary secular). They were constantly in a mindset of working for the Lord. I work at a church helping to manage our tech, our tech volunteers, and our social media. This does not mean I am in the constant mindset of working for the Lord, however. I fail continuously to spend intentional time with the Lord and being as involved I am with running the behind the scenes of a Sunday morning, I generally don't retain much from the message. I...

After reading about the Roman liturgy and the practices of the monks and nuns, I was honestly quite surprised. I had always pictured monks as humble hermits that focused on the upkeep of their monasteries, solemn men with limited speech, but singing? Nope. Never considered it. I found it particularly interesting that their services (the Offices,) typically focused solely on music and often did not involve sermons. "The Offices include neither preaching nor Holy Communion" and "The first part, the teaching service or Fore-Mass, concludes after the sermon, if there is one". Normally when we think of a church service we picture a worship band doing two or three songs followed by a pastor giving a 30-45 minute sermon, and that's the entirety of the service. In Roman liturgy, they considered the music to be an integral part in the church service, and as the Establishment of Catholic Tradition file says, "The monks dedicated themselves not only to charitable work...

I have a sweatshirt with a Leonard Cohen quote on it that reads, "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Now, before I get to what I really want to talk about, I am going to take a quick detour. This may be a bold statement. I could live by the schedule of the monks and nuns. Their way of life really fascinates me. Rising at midnight sounds brutal, but I unintentionally get up at 12:00 a.m. anyway. When you break it down, the rest of their day somewhat resembles a day of college, but it was centered around God (thus, it was better). Study, pray, praise, eat, study, mass (maybe), work. Work, praise, work, praise, work, praise. Eat, study, pray, praise, bed. College when broken down is all work, eat, pray, and praise for passing that test you didn't study for. The going to bed early would mess with me a little, but I could adjust. The monks lived a simplistic life down to the food they ate. In summary, I really admire their way of life.  Their da...

 I love reading historical fiction. It is a genre of books that I always seem to fall back on when finding something to read. There are so many different kinds of historical fiction and they are always very interesting. I was surprised at how much I know about Roman Liturgy just from the historically based novel series I have read.  I found the assigned reading on Roman Liturgies very interesting. I have learned from my many past worldview classes how some of our current practices and traditions in churches have been passed down from Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism is the foundational church for the Christian churches. Almost every other denomination split off from the Roman Catholic Church. With other denominations being derived from Roman Catholicism, it makes sense that some of the traditions and practices have spread to other denominations. Some of these traditions were started in the early church and solidified with Catholicism while Catholicism started the others. O...

 As someone whose major is literally Piano Performance (and Public History), I tend to put music ahead of a lot of things, including God. When I read Book X Ch 33 of Confessions , a good amount of what Augustine said really hit me. Augustine said that “I do not enjoy it so much that I cannot tear myself away.  I can leave it when I wish.” (Augustine, p 238) I feel like a lot of the time, I can tear myself away from the piano, but once I get started on a piece, I get involved to the point where it’s almost too much. I also do this (to a lesser extent) with singing. Get me started on singing Broadway/musical theatre songs and Southern gospel hymns and I can do that all day long. But I think the part of this reading that hit me the hardest is when Augustine said “I realize that nowadays it is not the singing that moves me but the meaning of the words when they are sung in a clear voice to the most appropriate tune...” (p 239) As a musician, I tend to listen to the musical melody ...

 Well folks, you heard it from the Saint himself. He doesn't mind people singing in church, because it can move weaker souls to be devoted to God. I don't know how I feel about that sentence. The prideful part of me gets indignant, because it feels like he's equating liking singing with being weak. It reminds me of the verses 1 Corinthians 7:9-10 that say "Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." My first instinct is to ask, what the heck Paul? Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to grow up and find the love of my life and move in with them. While it's never been my priority - I'm of the opinion that what will happen will happen - the idea of marriage and partnership has always been on my mind. In this verse, it sounds like getting married is the last resort: something you should only do if y...

      The worship service during church is very important. It allows us to open up hearts to be ready for the sermon that is going to be preached to us. The article on Catholic Tradition tells us one worship style.     The church leaders had a fear that the music during worship could be a distraction to the audience. They made sure that the style of music would not a distraction to people, and they wanted people to focus on the spiritual side of the song, mainly the message in the lyrics, and not on the music itself. They went so far as to make sure the style of music would not cause a "physical rhythmic response such a clapping or toe tapping."     Growing up, I've been in two types of churches. One did not allow people to clap or move to the music that was playing, and they made sure that the songs played would not cause movement. The other one will straight up tell us to stand up and clap and get involved with the music. The current church I go to i...

I do not know if anybody else grew up going to AWANA every Wednesday night, but these readings really did remind me of the fun Bible verse memorization program. If you think about it, it is entirely fair to say that the early medieval church came up with the idea of AWANA first! The medieval people just decided to take after modern-day homeschoolers and spice-up their tactics with a bit of song! Oh, wait a minute! Maybe the medieval church also influenced homeschooling! Huh, wild! Regardless, the songs that were sung during church in medieval times were carefully structured so that the early Christians could better remember important Scriptural truths. Similarly, AWANA focused on helping children to hide the Words of God in their hearts. When you boil it down, these two ideals are both highly related to one another. By singing songs that serve as reminders of a higher purpose and memorizing verses that speak about fundamental truths, you are aiding people in improving their understandi...