The "norse bible" would be the eddas. Jormungandr means great monster or earth necklace...something to the like (it was the thing that made the earth shake), but more importantly to how it was conceived of by the people who believed in it..it was the lord or personification of chaos - much like it's ane dragon counterparts and even..yes, the serpents and sea monsters of the OT. So...interestingly enough, the guy who wrote all of that down was a man by the name Snorri who had it that odin was a king who lead his people out of asia minor in the early stages of aegean ascendance. Troy, specifically. OFC, others had it that odin was a son of noah, and that the rulers of the various continental kingdoms were his sons. All of them, thusly conceived, rightful adamic rulers of mankind and related to christ himself. Others yet date their little exodus to roman occupation. None of those accounts can be factual in every specific, some are blatant propaganda. Taken as a whole, though, and allowing for the mythmaking and error that creeps into oral history, it's a story of continental interrelationships and some ancient migration. It's unlikely that Snorri (et al) was making it all up whole clothe.
That these histories were tainted by christian thought is a given....but considering the environment in which they were written..even if a person was trying to relate an accurate (or accurate-ish) oral history to the written word there were things they just couldn't say. Similarly, there were conventions of concept that they absolutely would have used...and this is what I find fascinating;
That jormungandr became a dragon or a serpent and is very much like the dragons and serpents in the OT is both an artifact of cultural syncretism in the 12th century...but also a latent indicator of cultural transmission much earlier in time. Hell, needling even further in.....serpents and dragons and their ilk are in all of the mythologies of mankind. One could see them as a literary expression of the state of man or the world he finds himself in, or more broadly, the state of man as he relates to the world. The thing that shakes the earth is chaos, and chaos will destroy the order we seek to impose, and we have a little piece of this chaos in all of us, no less.
Cool stuff, huh? I know, I know..wasted on you because you're a babble believer, still.
That these histories were tainted by christian thought is a given....but considering the environment in which they were written..even if a person was trying to relate an accurate (or accurate-ish) oral history to the written word there were things they just couldn't say. Similarly, there were conventions of concept that they absolutely would have used...and this is what I find fascinating;
That jormungandr became a dragon or a serpent and is very much like the dragons and serpents in the OT is both an artifact of cultural syncretism in the 12th century...but also a latent indicator of cultural transmission much earlier in time. Hell, needling even further in.....serpents and dragons and their ilk are in all of the mythologies of mankind. One could see them as a literary expression of the state of man or the world he finds himself in, or more broadly, the state of man as he relates to the world. The thing that shakes the earth is chaos, and chaos will destroy the order we seek to impose, and we have a little piece of this chaos in all of us, no less.
Cool stuff, huh? I know, I know..wasted on you because you're a babble believer, still.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
