[Main Blog Post] [Book] In Search of Odhinn

[jprussell]

Time for a review of another book by Shani Oates, this time In Search of Odhinn. Once again, I admired the breadth of evidence she brought to the table and her consideration of fine details, but was frustrated with her thoughts not being better organized or easy to follow. Let me know what you think!

Comments

[k_a_nitz]

I'm seeing a pattern here of writers of books on heathen topics not being able to organise their thoughts well.

On another note, I can see a future book on how Christ and Christus and Jesus and Jesu etc weren't the same god, based on how the worship of them varied so much.

[jprussell]

Hah, you may have a point there! To be fair, though, there may be a selection bias at work: most of the books I've written on to date have been a bit more "out there" and a bit less "here are the basics drawn from the Eddas, which tend to be fairly well-organized, if only because Snorri was fairly well organized in the Prose Edda (some, including Oates here, would argue too organized).

And that's an interesting thought experiment! Without even touching on the idea of the potential for multiple Jesii, it's a useful lens to realize how much variation can be included in practice among folks who all would say they're following the same religion and worshiping the same God.

Cheers,
Jeff