Beowulf (a Story Based on Religion)

A Story Based On Religion There has always been that doubt that question, whether the story of “Beowulf” is based on Paganism or Christianity. Many people believe it was written under paganism, and even though it sounds like an originally pagan story, in my point of view it’s Christian. At first I never looked at it that way, but as I kept reading and making myself that question I started noticing a lot of Christian material in the story. It constantly talks about God, and other important things from the Bible, for instance in this line “… since the creator cast them out as kindred of Cain. For that killing Abel the eternal Lord took vengeance” (pg. 39). It’s talking about a creator, Cain and what happened to Abel. Throughout the story it seems like Beowulf sees God as his only protector throughout his adventurous journey. In fact one of the lines says “The fight would have ended straightaway if God had not guarded me”. This shows again that he only believed in one God, differentiating the story from being Pagan which believes in having many Gods. That’s the difference from Paganism and Christianity. Paganism is polytheistic and Christianity is monotheistic which means in believing in just one God. He couldn’t of said that he would of lost the battle without God taking care of him, because in Paganism there’s either many Gods or in some cases no God at all. So it was either feeling protected by many Gods or not mentioning God at all. There’s also another scene towards the end, when Beowulf is almost dying and gives thanks to God by giving him the dragon’s treasure. It’s also showing Christianity by thanking God for his victory and in exchange for the help, he gives him what we can call a “trophy”. Also when Beowulf is talking about the fight he wants to have with Grendel, he doesn’t seem to be afraid. He even shows his faith towards God by trying to say that only God will decide who will win, and if he died, he would die with honor. In one of my English