Christianisation

Christianity is one of the major and also the latest religions in Bangladesh. This monotheistic religion is based on the lifestyle, moral ideals, speech, and humanistic attitude of Jesus Christ. Their main religious belief is that Jesus is the son of God and the savior of mankind. The presence of Christianity is not very new and Christianization is going on for over 400 years in this area the Christian community is one of the largest increasing religious communities in Bangladesh. The Christian community of Bangladesh is divided into two main branches- Catholic and Protestant. However, Christianity is practiced here under the patronization of several missionaries. Although there are some differences in structures and activities their mission is almost the same. This paper analyzes the historical background and present situation of Christians focusing on some issues like conversion, socio-political impact, and cultural encounters, along with the development that took place over the years in a Muslim-majority country like Bangladesh.

The view on basic problems of the contemporary research of christianization in early Middle Ages presented here reveals the complexity and also ambiguity of this process. For its comprehension is important to listen to all the participients and their opinions discussed in the social and cultural context of that time. The change of the belief, which pagan gentes underwent, should be understood in a more complex view as a cultural confrontation of paganism and christianity, where very strong acculturation influence took its part. Its result did not immediately compact the christian culture, but the transition was a complex one, took much time and was given by the releasing of the old and coming into existence of the fragile new structures.
Conjunction of an early christianization with elite people of pagan societies gives clear evidence of a political character of this conversing. Christianization was a part of a wider complex of mutually interweaved social processes which in early Middle Ages were changing political, social and cultural habits of the various ethnic groups living in the areas of the European continent. Resembling the red thread is a transformation of the political and social structures of the tribe society into the society of the state, where christianity played the big role. A new, universal religion not only transited bordiers of local tribal societies and helped integration of them into larger groups, but it also integrated the power into the competence of a christian ruler and his nobility at the expense of traditional tribal institutions.

Illustrer le thème des laïcs aujourd'hui, plus de cinquante ans après la conclusion du Concile Vatican II, après la constitution Lumen Gentium, le décret Apostolicam Actuositatem, l'exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi de Paul VI, Christifideles Laici de Jean-Paul II et Evangelii Gaudium du Pape François, est une opportunité significative.
Déjà certains théologiens de la Nouvelle Théologie comme Congar , des laïcs comme Guitton , d'autres théologiens comme Philips , et le magistère pontifical lui-même avec Pie XI , avaient attiré l'attention sur la nécessité pour les pasteurs d'aider les fidèles chrétiens laïcs à grandir et à mûrir dans la conscience de leur vocation et de leur mission.
L'enseignement de Jean-Paul II, dans Christifideles Laici, a fait une synthèse en identifiant dans le binôme vocation - mission, la clé pour retenir les facteurs décisifs dans le développement historique de la théologie des laïcs

"Such a bitch is Freyja": Women, Christianity and patriarchy in Old Icelandic Literature.

This article examines Old Icelandic literature from the perspective of feminist gender theories. It looks at the female images presented in medieval literature in Iceland and how scholars have interpreted these images. The article demonstrates how scholars have traditionally regarded the images of women presented in the texts as empirical reality instead of imagery or representations. This article contends that the representations of women reflect attitudes towards women in the semiotic system and language from which the sagas arose. It is based on the assumption that the sagas were written in an age where Christianity had become a dominant force in Icelandic culture and decisive in shaping the gender-bound attitudes and values of the medieval texts. The theory that Christianity is a male phenomenon and that heathenism is connected to the feminine is posited. In the semiotic system of the sagas things heathen and feminine are marginalised, as feminine culture, language and linguistic art are repressed. In the article the connection between Christianity and masculinity is placed in the context of territorial conquest and political domination. The power of Christianity over language is integrally connected with its worldly power and wealth.
    The article interprets the reports in medieval literature of the Christianisation as representing to some extent a protest against the power of Christianity, pointing out many instances of grotesque, even carnivalistic, description. Even the Christianisation itself is depicted as a bargain, poorly disguised by the story of Thornier lying under the fur cloak. The change in religion is a parody of leader-worship, as is evident in the reference to God as the "source of our laws". In medieval writings the annual legislative and judicial assembly, Althing, is portrayed as the main setting for carnival events.
    The interconnected struggle between genders and religions also appears in the grammatical development of the word for God, gun, which in heathen times was neuter but becomes masculine under Christianity. At the same time there is conflict between the body and the spirit. Christianity supports the spirit while repressing the body, while heathenism exalts both body and gender. Heathenism thus poses a sexual and physical threat to Christianity, which would repress anything heathen or feminine. In the process this complex whole, heathen-feminine-physical, is made animal, as depicted in the title, showing the goddess Freyja in animal form.
    The role played by women in the Christianisation is emphasised and mention made of the fact that they were the first to be baptised; on this point, however, most sources are silent. The conclusion suggests that this baptism was a deciding factor in the history of Christianity in Iceland.
                              Summary by Garðar Baldvinsson, translated by Keneva Kunz.

Kristijanizacija istočnih dijelova Branimirove države. Die Christianisation der östlichen Teile von Branimirs Kroatien. U 30. glavi De administrando Imperio bizantskog cara Konstantina VII. Porfirogeneta u sastavu ranosrednjovjekovne Hrvatske uvrštene su i Livanjska i Plivska županija i županija Pset. Livanjska se županija navodi kao prva. Njezin je župan igrao osobitu ulogu u banskoj odnosno kraljevskoj Hrvatskoj. Te su županije objedinjavale istočne dijelove ranosrednjovjekovne Hrvatske. Kristijanizacija je na tim područjima počela još u kasnoantičko doba, gdjekad se ne prekidajući ni tijekom srednjega vijeka. Pojedine grupice preživjeloga kršćanskoga iliro-romanskoga pučanstva s ponekim sakralnim objektom nadživjele su propast Zapadnog Carstva i velike potrese s početka srednjega vijeka. Upravo su ti subjekti i mogli biti najranijim prijenosnicima kršćanskih ideja među slavensko-hrvatskim pridošlicama.

Die Christianisation der östlichen Teile von Branimirs Kroatien. Im 30. Kapitel des Werks De administrando Imperio von Konstantinus VII. Porfirogenethos wurde notiert, daß dem frühmittelalterlichen Kroatien u. a. auch die Gespanschaften (Županija) von Livno, Pliva und Pset zugehörten. Die Gespanschaft von Livno wurde als erste angeführt, wahrscheinlich weil ihr Gespan in Kroatien mit dem Ban bzw. dem König an der Spitze sehr wichtig war. Diese drei Gespanschaften umfaßten die östlichen Räume Kroatiens. Das Christentum erreichte hier seinen Höhepunkt in der Zeit vom 4. Jh. bis zur ersten Hälfte des 6. Jhs., wovon die Überreste der frühchristlichen Basiliken und Friedhöfe zeugen. Große Wanderungen der Barbaren zu Beginn des Mittelalters vernichteten zum größten Teil die frühchristlichen Gemeinden in diesen Gebieten und die meisten Sakralbauten wurden auch zerstört. Einer der Hauptgründe dafür war die Tatsache, daß durch diese Gebiete die wichtigsten römischen Straßen führten, die Pannonien mit der Adria verbanden. Seltene Gruppen der alten Bevölkerung und einige Kirchen überlebten das Ankommen der slawisch-kroatischen Bevölkerung. Die Ankömmlinge wurden oft in den alten römisch-christlichen Nekropolen begraben und einzelne wurden auch in den gewölbten spätantiken Grabstätten z. B. auf Grudine (Crkvina) in Čipuljić bei Bugojno in Mittelbosnien, in Livno in Westbosnien u. a. bestattet. Die Entstehung der frühchristlichen Nekropolen neben den alten römischen Friedhöfen und frühchristlichen Sakralbauten ist die Bestätigung eines ununterbrochenen Lebens hier auch im frühen Mittelalter. Es handelte sich entweder von der Bewahrung der Tradition der am Leben gebliebenen römischen Bevölkerung oder davon, daß ein Teil der slawisch-kroatischen Bevölkerung die Errungenschaft der römischchristlichen Zivilisation sehr früh angenommen hatte. Wie kann man anders erklären, daß einige frühchristliche Sakralbauten bis zum späten Mittelalter funktionierten und einige vorromanische Kirchen auf den Gründen der frühchristlichen Basiliken entstanden. Ihr größter Teil entstand zur Zeit Branimirs und etwas später, was wiederum dafür spricht, daß die Politik Branimirs, die sich an die römische Kirche und den Papst anlehnte, auch in diesen Gebieten vertreten wurde.

Conclusions. On the example of Płock (as well as Gniezno, Kuyavian or Pomeranian) one can clearly see the "utilitarian" character of the Benedictine Christianization in early medieval Poland. Their involvement, forced by circumstances (lack of the diocesan clergy) and fully in line with the still living tradition of the Anglo-Saxon mission and modern practice of missions among the Slavs in Slavs, and especially in Scandinavia, aimed (apart from the Christianization of the population) primarily to quickly establish a permanent church organization. By natural turn of events for a certain, usually relatively short period of time, black monks were its support, including a recruitment base for senior church dignitaries, mainly bishops. This period lasted for a relatively short time and after the establishment of the diocesan clergy, the Benedictines were easily, and in any case without any resistance visible in the sources, gave way to him, hiding in the comfort of abbeys and provosts - where their main place was from the very beginning.

L'ensemble des communautés traditionnelles sont ancrées dans des forces divines dont elles tirent leurs lois. Ces lois tribales dépendent des temps des origines, fondées sur l'ordre divin donné par les ancêtres. L'ordre divin des ancêtres s'appuie sur deux pratiques magiques : la parole des ancêtres et l'écriture apportée par les Européens. Mais est-ce par la parole que l'on a pu libéré l'écrit et par l'écrit que l'on a pu libérer la parole ? Et je citerai Maco Tevane, directeur de l'Académie tahitienne qui, dans un discours en 1993 a dit à propos de la parole "Cette parole, chaîne magique de la mémoire de nos tupuna, faisait du discours et de l'improvisation un art développé au plus haut point" . Les Polynésiens d'avant la découverte étaient habités par une langue sacrée, dans son fondement et dans son usage : les mots agissaient, l'évocation-des généalogies par exemple-étaient aussi des invocations : les ancêtres, les dieux sont là. L'art oratoire est devenu mythique en Polynésie : les mythes sont immortels par les récits fondateurs qui rattachent les hommes au passé, mais aussi parce qu'ils sont à la base des idéaux qui poussent les hommes vers le futur. Cet art oratoire était la substance de tous les êtres : le Haere no Po, Grand-Prêtre, "Marcheur de la Nuit", mémoire vivante de son clan et qui récitait inlassablement le message des ancêtres, mais aussi les initiés nécessaires à la perpétuation des mythes et toute une communauté en attente, par là même, d'une communication avec un monde divin protecteur ; l'art oratoire en était le médiateur et le garant. La parole en était la susbtance, le pneuma-le souffle-immanent à l'individu et au cosmos. On a pensé longtemps que si la parole devenait "malade" c'était la faute à l'écriture. Ce qui faisait autrefois la densité des pratiques magiques de la tradition orale est aujourd'hui relayé, en fait, par l'écriture aujourd'hui. "Presque tous les textes oraux, qu'ils soient folkloriques ou ethnologiques appartiennent d'une manière ou d'une autre à la littérature sacrée" . De fait, par l'écriture, on a démystifié les pratiques magiques des anciens détenteurs de la connaissance, on les a décortiquées dans l'écriture, aussi imagine-ton que ces connaissances venues du fond des temps ont moins d'impact. La parole magique s'est étouffée, s'est vidée de son pneuma, devenant ainsi humble et

Recent archaeological studies conducted at different scales, from the level of site through to landscapes and regions, have focused critical attention on the connections and interactions existing between secular and religious realms of life in Anglo-Saxon England. Settlement archaeology has made an important contribution to this re-evaluation by drawing attention to a series of high-status residences of the seventh-ninth centuries AD whose trajectories and lifestyle blur the boundaries between monastic and secular aristocratic culture in pre-Viking England. Recent excavations in the Kentish village of Lyminge extend an appreciation of this theme into a region which has hitherto suffered from a deficit of Anglo-Saxon settlement archaeology. Originally conceived to improve archaeological understanding of a documented pre-Viking monastery, the Lyminge Project has subsequently gone on to uncover the remains of a separate and spatially distinct royal focus – a rare example of a seventh-c...

This project aims to incorporate urban settlement data within a framework of landscape archaeology approaches to map the effects of Christianisation on town development in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th-11th centuries A.D. With the introduction of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England came churches, this coincided with increasing productivity and trade, which necessitated the growth of towns and larger settlements. The great dynamism of this period both socially and economically has meant that previously studies have focussed on single aspects of the changing Anglo-Saxon world,
however this study aims to use multi-proxy evidence to demonstrate the need for more comparative and collaborative approaches.
From the 7th century onwards land ownership and estate management changed in England, shifting not long after the arrival of missionaries. There were also changes in
elite sedentism, dynastic power shifts, and increasing settlement and economic centralisation. This project investigates the links between Christianisation and
centralisation in Anglo-Saxon England. Links between placement of churches, town development, and changes in funerary behaviour are illuminated. One unifying factor in these settlements is waterways. The essential nature of these riverine and coastal landscapes highlights the multi-factorial nature of the Christianisation process from c. 600-1000 AD and beyond.
The process of Christianisation is not a solely religious question, it affected most aspects of early medieval society, and lasted far longer than what has been historically accepted (c. 8th century A.D.). These questions of changing land ownership and settlement development are multi-faceted and intertwined.

According to the conventional construction of the religious history of the Roman Empire, the dense variety of Greek and Roman religions had ceased to exist sometime around the fourth to fifth centuries CE, during the so-called Constantinian Revolution. Certainly, at some point in Late Antiquity, there were no longer functioning cult centres for deities like Apollo, Dionysus, Isis, Cybele, and the like. However, far from indicating the triumphal supersession of Greek and Roman religions by Christianity, the evidence of religious history is more complex. Christianity/ies is, one can say, an epiphenomenon of processes of cultural shifts and demographic changes (helped along by the changes wrought by migrations and the emergence of diasporic religions as the main manifestation of cultic formations) that swept the circum-Mediterranean world. The "old religions," woven into the cultural fabric of inhabitants of the Mediterranean world as they were, did not suddenly cease to exist-the discourses, the practices, the iconographies, cultic performances continued to shape nascent Christian discourses and practices. This process was not an even one, it differed in pace and shape from one geographic locale to the other, and from one epoch to the other-therefore the plural, twilights. Hence one can say that Christianity was the big sponge that absorbed all the others (which does not exclude that from time to time there were indeed legislation and mob action aimed at destroying the vestiges of "pagan" cults). Thus, reading the evidence from outside the triumphalist framework characterising early Christian writers on the nature and fate of "paganism," one is left with the unavoidable impression, now strongly asserted in Late Antique scholarship, of the interpenetration of "paganism" and Christianity. Christianity was born as a syncretic phenomenon in a process of cultural bricolage. This has some implications, not only for how we conceived of the origins of Christianity, but also for how we conceive of religion as object of theoretical reflection. Twilights of Greek and Roman Religions: Afterlives and Transformations Gerhard van den Heever,

Based on an analysis of the Christianisation of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, this rather experimental article discusses if and how a future Islamisation of Europe could be possible. Some arguments may merit consideration in the debate about Michel Houllebecq's novel "Soumission".

Moje rozważania na temat antropologicznych implikacji chrystianizacji społeczeństwa Afryki muszę zacząć od kilku zastrzeżeń. Związane są one przede wszystkim ze świadomością moich ograniczeń z jednej strony i z rozległością i skomplikowaniem tematu z drugiej. Jedynym usprawiedliwieniem kreślenia poniższych uwag są moje zainteresowania antropologiczne i religioznawcze. To one właśnie uświadomiły mi dwuznaczność pojęć używanych przez teologów i konieczność ich konfrontacji z historycznymi realiami w jakich omawiane teologów problemy są konkretyzowane. Tak więc nie ma idealnych religii takich jak chrześcijaństwo czy islam, ale są konkretni ludzie, którzy w określonych czasach dzielili się swoimi przekonaniami religijnymi z innymi. Przy czym w przypadku Afryki (ale nie tylko) połączone to było z wykorzystaniem wsparcia politycznego. Ten wymiar religijnej ekspansji bardzo rzadko jest uwzględniany w refleksji teologicznej, co w moim przekonaniu radykalnie fałszuje samą religię i zniekształca naturę jej przekazu. A co ważniejsze dramatycznie wypacza obraz wierzeń i religii zastanych (bywały bowiem przez misjonarzy prezentowane jako przesąd i konieczny do wyplenienia zabobon), które zostały w procesie nawracania tubylczej ludności w znacznym stopniu zniszczone. Jednak sam proces chrystianizacji czy islamizacji ludności afrykańskiej nie pozostał bez wpływu na samo chrześcijaństwo i islam, owszem zostały one poddane daleko idącej modyfikacji, tak że można dziś mówić o rodzimym, afrykańskim chrześcijaństwie i islamie. Wspominam o tych kwestia od razu na początku zaznaczając jednocześnie, że moje uwagi mają charakter wstępnego rozpoznania i będą wymagać dalszych dookreśleń, być może również z udziałem specjalistów z innych dziedzin, w tym zwłaszcza samych afrykanistów, badających interesujące nas zjawiska na miejscu. Może na początek warto przywołać symptomatyczną anegdotę o chrześcijańskim misjonarzu głoszącym Jezusa Chrystusa znanemu z waleczności ludowi Masajów w Tanzanii.

After the death of his brother, Carloman I, Charlemagne became the sole ruler of all Franks. This put him in a position from which he could strengthen and expand the Frankish state and transform it into the official protector of Christendom. One of his first steps to accomplish this was the beginning of the war with the Saxons, which effectively lasted over half a century. Charlemagne’s imperial coronation in 800 played an important role in his conquest of the Saxons. Despite their subjugation, the Saxons continued to revolt, but by the middle of the 9th century had already successfully integrated into Frankish society and did not cause any more trouble to the empire.

The Polabian Slavs were the last refuge of paganism in the Slavic region. They survived until 1168, because then Rugen, the last pagan bastion of the Slavs after the destruction of Radgosc, was conquered by Waldemar I, king of Denmark. The Polabian Slavs put up the longest resistance to Christianization, seeing it as a threat to their identity, nationality and tradition, of which the pagan cult was an important part. Even
in 1147 a crusade was organized against the pagan Polabians, for which St. Bernard of Clairvaux called. The world of pagan Slavs ended with the moment of fall of Rügen and its Arkona, which became the centre of Slavic pagan cult after Radogosc. Two or three centuries later, Polabian Slavs were germanized, losing their nationality and thus becoming the part of Germany.

The paper presents an overview on the process of christianization in northern Gaul between the late 3rd up to the 8th century AD from both the archaeological and the historical evidence. Special attention is given to the area comprised between the rivers Meuse and Moselle, i.e. the territory of the archdiocese of Augusta Treverorum/Trier/Trèves with its suffragan dioceses of Metz, Toul and Verdun.

Tra il IV e il V secolo d.C., ed in particolare a partire dal principato di Teodosio, il controverso e difficile rapporto tra il Cristianesimo, ormai dilagante, e le altre religioni è riflesso in tutto il territorio dell’impero romano sia dalle fonti storiche che dalle testimonianze archeologiche. Ad una legislazione imperiale piuttosto repressiva nei confronti dei luoghi di culto e dei rituali tradizionali, fece da contraltare una diversità di fenomeni da analizzare necessariamente a livello locale, senza generalizzare, distinguendo tra ambito urbano e rurale. Se da una parte, soprattutto in Italia, molti templi vennero chiusi o sconsacrati, altri vennero ignorati o riutilizzati per scopi diversi, mentre la religiosità non cristiana continuò a sopravvivere in una dimensione “privata” e attraverso la miniaturizzazione di edifici costruiti ex novo o il restauro di altri. Si intende dunque presentare in questa sede, attraverso esempi mirati, un’analisi dello sviluppo degli edifici di culto non cristiani nell’Italia teodosiana, al fine di provare a comprendere, attraverso il dato archeologico, le modalità di convivenza e di “scontro” tra le religioni tradizionali e il Cristianesimo.

Recent archaeological studies conducted at different scales, from the level of site through to landscapes and regions, have focused critical attention on the connections and interactions existing between secular and religious realms of life in Anglo-Saxon England. Settlement archaeology has made an important contribution to this re-evaluation by drawing attention to a series of high-status residences of the seventh-ninth centuries AD whose trajectories and lifestyle blur the boundaries between monastic and secular aristocratic culture in pre-Viking England. Recent excavations in the Kentish village of Lyminge extend an appreciation of this theme into a region which has hitherto suffered from a deficit of Anglo-Saxon settlement archaeology. Originally conceived to improve archaeological understanding of a documented pre-Viking monastery, the Lyminge Project has subsequently gone on to uncover the remains of a separate and spatially distinct royal focus – a rare example of a seventh-c...

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Der Arcus Constantini gilt bis heute als eines der herausragendsten Monumente spätantiker Herrschaftsrepräsentation. An prominenter Stelle – die via triumphalis überspannend, gelegen zwischen dem Amphitheater, dem Palatin und dem Forum Romanum – vermittelt der Ehrenbogen seine ausgeklügelte und mehrdeutige politische Botschaft. Besonders bei der Betrachtung der Darstellung des Kaisers auf den constantinischen Schlachtenfriesen fällt die Entrückung des Imperators aus dem Kampfgeschehen sofort ins Auge. Zudem zeigt sich anhand eines Abgleiches der Schilderungen der Panegyriker mit den Kampfdarstellungen auf dem Constantinsbogen eine bemerkenswerte Divergenz zwischen Bild-und Textquellen hinsichtlich der Kampfbeschreibungen. Die Verschiedenheit der Berichte sowie die besondere Darstellung des Kaisers lassen sich anhand der Transformation des spätantiken Kaisertums schlüssig erklären; die Kampfdarstellungen des Constantinsbogens vermitteln die Besonderheiten der spätantik-sakralisierten Herrschaftsideologie auf eindrucksvolle Art und Weise.

ABSTRACT: Until today the Arcus Constantini counts as one of the most outstanding monuments of imperial representation of the late antiquity. In a prominent place – spanning over the via triumphalis, situated between the Amphitheatre, the Palatine and the Forum Romanum – the arch communicates its elaborate and ambiguous political message. Regarding the modalities of how the emperor is represented on the friezes depicting the battle-scenes the displacement of the Imperators figure becomes immediately noticeable. Furthermore, it is apparent that there

This project aims to incorporate urban settlement data within a framework of funerary and landscape archaeology approaches to map some of the effects of Christianisation on town development in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th-11th centuries A.D. With the advent of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England came the rise of ecclesiastical structures, and increasing productivity and trade which necessitated the growth of towns and larger settlements. We increasing find links between cemetery populations and settlements, both lay and ecclesiastical, both with proximity and changes seen in burial practice as well as building programs. The great dynamism of this period both socially and economically has meant that in the past most studies have focussed on one aspect of the changing Anglo-Saxon world, however this study aims to integrate some of these to show the need for more comparative and collaborative approaches. From the 7th century onwards land ownership and estate management shifts in England, following the importation of the Augustinian/Gregorian mission and their ideas from the continent. With this there was a change in elite sedentism, dynastic power shifts and with it came increasing settlement and economic centralisation. This project investigates the links between Christianisation and centralisation in Anglo-Saxon England. With river valleys as case study units, links between placement of churches, town development, and changes in funerary behaviour are being illuminated. The essential nature of these riverine and coastal landscapes highlights the multi-factorial nature of the Christianisation process from c. 600-900 AD and beyond. The process of Christianisation is not a solely religious question, it affected most aspects of early medieval society, and lasted far longer than what has been historically accepted (c. 8th century A.D.). Especially with the re-introduction of paganism by the Scandinavians in the late 8th century onwards, these questions of changing land ownership and settlement development are multi-faceted and intertwined.

In the context of Imperial Art as Christian Art, a question of special interest is how Christian emperors handled the imperial legacy of their pagan predecessors. That the tradition of the saecula aurea was important at least for the first Christian emperor is shown by the Arch of Constantine. The extensive use of spolia became one of the characteristics of the architecture of Constantine and his followers. But this handling of the past is also a sign of its fragmentation and selection, and mirrors in some way the emperor’s policy: on the one hand they tried to protect the main temples and their statues as works of art and bearers of the glorious tradition of the empire, on the other hand, they took assertive actions against paganism. A critical comparison between imperial decrees, other texts of Late Antiquity and the archeological evidence shows the different genres of the artistic legacy between destruction as relics of paganism and integration into the Christian empire.

Le triangle polynésien, à un moment de son histoire, s'est trouvé confronté à des idéologies d'origine occidentale, ré-interprétées dans la culture traditionnelle en situation d'acculturation : les peuples conquis ont dû intégrer de nouvelles croyances qui, pour être pertinentes, devaient absolument fonctionner dans une configuration socio-culturelle maohi. Des siècles d'idéologie polythéiste, puis quasi monothéiste avec le culte d'un dieu suprême accaparant à lui tout seul toutes les fonctions et prérogatives des autres divinités,'Oro / Lono / Rongo en l'occurrence, ont fini par imposer une vision de l'universalité très particulière. C'est ce qui a permis aux premiers missionnaires d'affirmer que les Polynésiens étaient préparés au monothéisme chrétien à condition de débarrasser cette croyance en un dieu unique, de toutes ses pratiques et rituels barbares. Une quantité de guerres avaient été déclarées, avant l'évangélisation de la Polynésie, au nom de 'Oro que ses adeptes désiraient, en même temps que leur pouvoir, implanter dans toute la Polynésie. La conversion était donc devenue un acte décisif, impliquant la renonciation à un mode de vie antérieur. Cette renonciation est évidemment au coeur du processus d'acculturation, et, fort longtemps, même après l'évangélisation des différents archipels de la Polynésie, les expériences des missionnaires, catholiques comme protestants, témoignent, sans contestation possible, de pratiques « barbares » qui permanent : exemple, l'archipel marquisien, « catalogué » parmi les plus barbares dans la hiérarchisation établie par les déterminants de l'Altérité extrême que sont le sacrifice humain et le repas cannibale.

This paper explores the links between religious ideology, identity, burial practice and diet during the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, with an emphasis on the 7th century. Due to the introduction of Christian religious ideology and practices we begin to see changes in Anglo-Saxon burial practices throughout the 7th century, and much has been made of this in terms of social and cultural implications. However how did this affect daily life and pre-death identity? The impact of Christianisation on diet is yet to be thoroughly explored and this is what forms the basis of the work presented here. Preliminary bio-archaeological theory and research on this topic will be presented, showing how stable isotope analysis and bio-molecular approaches when combined with material culture and historical sources will create more robust data for this period. The use of carbon and nitrogen isotopes is not new in Anglo-Saxon archaeology, however a large scale comparative study which integrates funerary archaeology with the chemistry for Christianisation is lacking, and this is what will be detailed and presented here.