#pgs 448-449

[inkinmyskinandsoul]

Fascinating insights into the nature and reality of the early missions can be had from sources such as Widukind’s History of the Saxons, written around 968, which describes the conversion of a later Danish king. From the ambiguous way in which he charts the context of the royal baptism, it is clear that while the Danes are in many senses Christians, they also happily retain many of their earlier beliefs. The task of the missions was not conversion, as such, but the practical demonstration of Christ’s power through action.  

There is a remarkable glimpse of how this worked in practice through a document known as Heliand, ‘The Saviour’. Written in Old Saxon during the first half of the ninth century, it is a paraphrase of the gospel for a Germanic audience, tweaked for their sensibilities and pitched almost as a Norse saga though with biblical heroes. Thus we read of Jesus’s birth in Galileeland, his later travels to Jerusalemburg, and how the Lord lives in a great hall in the sky (clearly Valhöll). The Lord’s Prayer is in ‘secret runes’, Peter is given command over the gates of Hel (with one L), and so on. Satan’s temptation of Christ takes place in a northern wilderness filled with vague forces, ‘powerful beings’ that seem to live among the trees, and one wonders what this implies of the traditional Northern beliefs that were known to the Christian clerics. By the same token, Jesus’s disciples are ‘warrior-companions’, framed in the language of a warlord’s retinue, and the Last Supper is the ‘final mead-hall feast’. Even God is called by Odinnic epithets such as ‘Victory-Chieftain’ and ‘All-Ruler’. This is the kind of message that was taken into Scandinavia by the first missionaries-a doctrine meshed with the ancestral stories of the North and following a model found in many other conversion histories.  

It has sometimes been suggested that the Scandinavians’ adoption of Christianity was mostly a veneer-lip service to the outward trappings of belief combined with regular church attendance, but in reality merely a thin covering over the old ways that persisted beneath. In all the debate concerning afterlives and the varying destinations offered by the traditional customs and the new religion, one wonders whether Viking-Age people might actually have decided where they wished to go after death. If so, what did they make of a faith in which the fate of a person’s immortal soul was dependent on living a certain kind of life? It is hard to overstate how alien this concept may have seemed, although a cornerstone of many world faiths today.  

The religious context of the sources is crucial here and affects the material culture as well. Much of what is known about the pre-Christian thought-world of the Vikings comes to us through the writings of, precisely, Christians. Even the framing story of this book-the creation of Ash and Elm-is relevant to the retrospective filter: how much of a coincidence is it that the ‘first couple’ in Norse cosmology have names beginning with A and E? Although the meaning of Askr/Ash is unequivocal, Embla is less certain. ‘Elm’ is the most commonly accepted translation, but the actual noun for an elm tree (almr) is masculine, and the etymology is convoluted. ‘Vine’ is another possibility, though this requires an ultimate derivation from Greek, and from there the scholarly debate starts to meander into the thickets of postulated Indo-European linguistic heritage. This kind of unresolved confusion-the ambiguities, contradictions, and possibilities-are all typical of the Viking-Age spiritual palimpsest, as we see dimly in the rear-view from more than a millennium in its future.

Neil Price, Children of Ash and Elm

[acourtof-ash-and-ruin]

Continuing my Ted talk on why Quinlar is endgame… House of Earth and Blood spoilers ahead!!

(If you want to see parts 1 & 2 click the link below!)

Part 3 (The Canyon)

This isn’t the first time, but it’s becoming more obvious, Hunt is picking up on when Bryce is hurting physically (typically a mate kinda thing) and honestly emotionally too but this is just focus on physical pain…

“She rounded a corner sharply, biting down on the groan of pain as her leg objected. Hunt’s gaze snapped to her, but she didn’t look at him.” (Pg.373)

No specific quote(s) for this but… the amount of times Bryce and Hunt’s PoVs mention his wings brushing against her just 🥰

And then again we have Hunt picking up on Bryce’s emotions…

“Bryce’s chest constricted to the point of pain. Hunt glanced her way then, his brows rising.” (Pg.414)

Rooftop moment (Pg.448-449)

Then this sweetness:

“Hunt grinned. Her little smile was like seeing the sun after days of rain.” (Pg.458)

“Only sorrow lay there. And something like understanding. Like she saw him, as he’d seen her in that shooting gallery, marked every broken shard and didn’t mind the jagged bits.” (Pg.460)

The apology meal 🥺 (Pg.480-487)

CHAPTER 54

“‘I was so worried about you,’ she whispered, stroking his hair again. ‘I…’ she couldn’t finish the sentence. So she made to step back, to head to her room and change into dry clothes and maybe get some sleep herself. But a warm, strong hand gripped her wrist. Halted her. She looked back, and found Hunt staring at her again. ‘What?’ A slight tug on her wrist told her everything. Stay.” (Pg.502)

Hunt didn’t even need to look at Bryce to know her leg was bothering her…

“‘You should see a medwitch about that leg,’ he said now. Hunt didn’t look up from where he was leading through some report Justinian had sent over that morning for a second opinion.” (Pg.513)

Hunt can’t stand the thought of her in pain.

“‘Your mother loves you. She cannot—literally, on a biological level, Bryce—bear the thought of you in pain.’ He let go of her chin, but his eyes remained on hers. ‘Neither can I.’” (Pg.533)

When he gave her the white opal 🥺 (Pg.538)

These quotes:

“‘I never realized it,’ she murmured. ‘That you and I are mirrors.’” (Pg.556)

“‘You’re the person I don’t need to explain myself to—not when it matters. You see everything I am, and you don’t run away from it.’” (Pg.556)

When Hypaxia assumed this:

“A hum of approval as the medwitch looked between Bryce and Hunt. ‘You two have such a powerful bond.’” (Pg.564)

And this moment:

“Hunt leaned forward, putting his cool brow against hers. ‘I’ve known who you were this whole time. I never forgot you.’” (Pg.567)

“‘I’ve got you,’ he murmured. “Sweetheart, I’ve got you.’” (Pg.567)

Bryce’s anger and fury/rage after they cut Hunt’s wings off is very mate-like ngl… (Pg.575)

[ao3feed-harrydraco]

by orpheous87

Title: This Is My Confession Author/Artist: Orpheous87 (Team Nimbus 2000) Rating: PG Board Position(or card image): The Three Broomsticks Prompt: Drarry + Liquid Courage/Confessions - Minimum: 49 Maximum: 449 Word Count: 449 Summary: The war is over and Harry has a confession to make to one person in particular.

Words: 448, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger

Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter

Additional Tags: Drarropoly: A Drarry Game/Fest

[sportsfanoutreach]

GEORGE WHITEFIELD BIO: A HOUSE OF MERCY IN THE WOODS OF GEORGIA – CHAPTER 27

The chapter is about Rev. Whitefield’s arrival in Savannah in 1740 and the beginnings of his orphanage home there called Bethesda. He desired that the orphans would have a home; that they would be taught well; they would learn to work by engaging in the labors of the plantation and that perhaps this would lead to the opening of a University in Georgia. [pg 448-449].Whitfield received a letter from Wesley during his journey to Charleston, SC to meet his brother and to preach. His reply to Wesley is contained in the chapter but apparently Wesley had written Whitfield again about their differences regarding election to which Whitefield replied with the hope of peace between them.As the Orphan House began to be completed it appeared that Whitfield had not planned well enough financially leading the House to become a financial burden to him. Though he says after seeing the orphans he had no choice but to build an orphanage.The Orphan House was originally approved by Trustees in England, which apparently was necessary according to existing English law, prior to Whitefield becoming a field preacher.  At that moment relations between him and the Trustees became strained which ultimately brought more pressure upon his efforts to build and operate the Orphan House. Yet Whitfield persisted to execute his plan to provide a home for area Orphans which would