A Lesson from King Alfred the Great

I enjoy historical fiction. Especially historical fiction written about the dark ages in the British Isles. There is just something about that time and that place that interests me. It started when I was a young boy interested in King Arthur and Robin Hood. It developed in high school when I read The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen Lawhead, re-telling the legends of King Arthur in a realistic and historically accurate (mostly) way. Since then I've read a number of books telling of the British Isles between A.D. 400 and 1000. Some of the highlights have been Credo by Melvyn Bragg, Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw and Lawhead's new series re-telling the legend of Robin Hood but placing it in Wales a couple hundred years before it usually is set. One other series I have been reading is Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles. I am currently reading (among other books, I read more than one book at a time usually) the fourth book in the series: Sword Song.

One interesting thing about historical novels set in the dark ages in Britain is that they usually deal with Christianity in some way. Lawhead is a Christian writer and usually portrays Christianity in his books in a positive light (though usually there are Christians who are bad also, and often the priests and monks are corrupt). Credo by Melvyn Bragg tells of one of the central religious discussions of the sixth century and you see Christians who are in it for themselves and others who are trying to seek God's will and you see these people on both sides of the issue. But Bernard Cornwell's books are written in the first person by a character during the reign of King Alfred the Great who is definitely anti-Christian. The protagonist in his series worships the gods of the Vikings and doesn't think much of Christianity. It is interesting to read the story because it makes you wonder how much this is the view of the author and how much it is just the character he has created.

On the other hand, the character has some powerful critiques of Christianity that Christians need to deal with and need to understand if we expect to reach the world around us. The main character is friends with King Alfred's oldest daughter. He is happily married and has known her since she was a little child. He sees her much like a daughter. At 13 she is married off to the main character's cousin for political reasons and it becomes clear quite soon that her husband is beating her regularly. The main character is appalled and, knowing that Alfred truly loves his daughter, tries to get Alfred to put a stop to what is happening. But Alfred and his priests respond by saying that his daughter needs to learn to be obedient to her husband, for this is what the Bible says. Alfred says that a child's willfulness and disobedience should be beat out of her. This is what he has been taught by the priests. This is what he believes the Bible says. He didn't do this himself with her, but her husband has the right because he is her husband. One of the priests gives a sermon in front of a group of Saxon leaders where he talks about the importance of wives obeying their husbands in all things as she sits there, the only woman in the group, with her face bruised and battered. The character (who is reminiscing as an old man looking back at these events) comments that he has heard that the priest is being canonised for sainthood. And then he states that he cannot imagine going up to heaven to spend eternity with that evil man.

Of course this is a fictionalized account. But the truth behind it is quite real. Christians have much to apologize for. When we lift people up and put them on a pedestal, we need to be careful about what that is saying. We have turned a blind eye to many injustices perpetrated by our own people and encouraged people to just look the other way. This is wrong. It is evil. It is not of God.

More than that, it is truly something that turns people away from God. People today wonder why some of their children have turned away from faith. They wonder why people they know are so bitter and angry and resentful towards the church. This is the reason. It is because the church has not stood up for what is right. It has taken the political issues and pushed them and ignored so many other places where injustice rules. We aren't going to be able to be a true witness to God until we acknowledge and do something about the injustice that we are responsible for.