Aims

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christianity has played a crucial role in the development of England and of the English people, yet it is in serious decline amongst the indigenous English even as it grows elsewhere. Some will mourn this and others will welcome it. What is clear, though, for better or for worse the English people will not be the same without it.

 

 

English Christianity, especially in its Anglican form, is a major part of our religious and cultural identity. Traditional organ music, hymns and liturgy form a part of our culture that we are losing. Hymns and psalms are actually part of our folk music tradition, especially Christmas carols. The Anglican musical tradition is second to none, acknowledged world-wide. Done well, a Cathedral or Church service can be very uplifting and have a positive impact on our spiritual development even if we do not accept every aspect of the faith it proclaims.

 

 

Churches define our countryside, our villages, towns and cities. They are a crucial part of what makes England look like England. Inside, they have a certain feel and smell to them, which although usually the result of damp, nevertheless makes them special and familiar places. Most people feel a sense of calm and maybe a connection with all that has gone before in that building. Cutting the link is cutting away a part of not just our history, but with those ancestors who were part of that same Church in years gone by.

 

 

 

There are several reasons why people are turning away from the Church. Some have what they think are better, more interesting things to do. Some dislike what they see as a stuffy, hierarchical institution, out of touch with the modern world. Others are turned off by the way it seems to have rejected its own morality and traditions or by an ‘un-English’ exuberance in worship styles. Many people who think more deeply about core doctrines find they cannot accept them. In any event, most younger people have not been brought up in Church-going families and so have no connection or familiarity with it. Others find a more spiritual path in non-Christian religions.

 

 

At the same time, there has been an awakening of our indigenous pre-Christian religion, whether called Odinism, Asatru, Fyrnsidu, Germanic Heathenry or some other name. This is a faith of the old Germanic Gods and Goddesses; Odin, Tyr, Thor, Yng Frey, Frig, Freya and more. It is a religion governed by fate and destiny, or Wyrd as our ancestors called it. It is an animistic religion that sees spirit in all things, other worldly beings and which reveres our ancestors. It is also a warrior religion rooted in the heroic culture of honour and loyalty of the Germanic peoples who included the Anglo Saxons and Scandinavian Vikings. Some people attracted by this tradition view Christianity as weak, cosmopolitan and alien – a religion of the desert rather than the temperate forests of the north.

 

 

But I don’t agree with this view, even if it may seem the case on initial comparison. From its beginnings, English Christianity was influenced by the Saxon ‘heroic’ culture and folk traditions, a fusion that led to what is sometimes called Saxon Christianity. These informal folk traditions were either integrated into the formal religion of the Church or existed side by side with it. They are what gave English Christianity a distinct local flavour and to this day are an expression of English spiritual and cultural identity. It is what has shaped the modern English people for most of our recorded history and I for one don’t want to simply discard this. 

 

 

However, the medieval fusion of Christianity with the Saxon heroic and folk culture was not always a happy one. The Church was keen to discard anything from the old religion that might contradict its own teachings and, in particular, banned or literally demonized the old gods and goddesses as well as the spirits of the land. Ideas central to the old religion were often misunderstood or deliberately mis-represented. It led to an overemphasis on the consequences of sin, an extreme view of hell and a suspicion of women that was misogynistic. It replaced any proper understanding of fate (or Wyrd as it was called) with the rather crude doctrines of Original Sin. On the other hand, it inherited traits from the old religion that we would not these days consider to be positive. It could be deeply superstitious and fatalistic, leading to a rather melancholic culture. Recreating the medieval Anglo Saxon Church has never been my goal.

 

 

What I would like to achieve with this web site, then, is to promote a modern form of Saxon Christianity that includes a more positive fusion of formal Christianity, our pre-Christian religion and English Folk Christian beliefs and practices. This is a form of Christianity that celebrates the myths, stories and some of the customs and beliefs of our pre-Christian forebears as a sort of Saxon Old Testament or ‘Praeparatio Evangelica’ (Preparation for the Gospel) as outlined by the Church father Eusebius of Caesarea. I hope to examine some of the key elements of our pre-Christian Saxon religion, not in an attempt to recreate them as such (others are doing that), but to help refine some of the principles of Saxon Christianity in a way that is relevant to our modern world.

 

 

I call this project ‘English Folk Church’. A Folk Church is a people’s Church, rooted in the culture and traditions of a particular people. It is intended to be less dogmatic than most mainstream Church denominations and it is hoped that it will be of interest to people seeking to connect more with their Anglo Saxon English origins, even those who are attracted by our pre-Christian religion, but who wish to remain broadly Christian. It may even be labelled as a form of Christo-Paganism and I hope its ideas and ethos can contribute to the development of a wider English and indeed European folk faith. It is something that could be observed by individuals either as sole practioners or within existing Church denominations, especially the Church of England. It may even form the basis of a new denomination. I certainly hope that it will lead to interested people finding each other and starting small study and social groups that can grow into something bigger over time. 

 

 

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