Cimbrian History

...the Völuspá The "Prophecy of the Seeress," an ancient poem from the Poetic Edda describing the creation and end of the world. composed poems about the many idols and their deeds: Regarding natural theology Naturalis Theologia: the study of God based on reason and the observation of nature rather than revelation, what the aforementioned and other writers put forward concerning the Most High GOD and His works—such as the creation of the world, governance, its downfall, the angels, the immortality of souls, the resurrection of the dead, etc. Regarding civil theology Civilis Theologia: the religious practices and gods recognized by the state or community, however, what Adam of Bremen, Helmold, Snorri Sturluson, and others write concerning the principal Nordic idols, and their sacrifices and idolatry.

§. 4. The alleged reason upon which the Pagans wished to establish their religion is its antiquity, which served as a sort of "cloak of shame" under which they could hide all their abominations and horrors. In contrast, they sought to reproach the Christians for the "novelty" of their religion, as cited in the Magdeburg Centuries A seminal 16th-century Lutheran history of the Christian Church. Cent. 2. H. E. cap. 15. p. 270. Cent. 4. cap. 15. p. 1535 & 1540. seq. Cent. 5. cap. 15. p. 1510 & 1512. Therefore, the Norwegians call their pagan religion the old faith; but the Christian religion they call a new dealing; Snorri Sturluson P. 3. Chronicle of Norway Num. 6. in the life of King Olaf Tryggvason p. 150, 151. & Num. 7. in the life of Saint Olaf p. 239.

Thus, the warlike King Göttrich of Denmark (called Gottfried by foreign writers) boasted that he firmly and steadfastly maintained the old religion of the fatherland and never abandoned the gods of his ancestors. On the other hand, he reproached Emperor Charlemagne original: "Käyser Carlen dem Grossen" for having rejected the old religion, as noted by Pontanus in Book 4 of the History of Denmark in the life of Gottfried, page 92. The pagan Governor of Rome, Symmachus A 4th-century Roman statesman known for his defense of traditional Roman paganism against Christianity., refers to this in his letter to the Eastern and Western Emperors: "Where," he says, "the long years bring prestige and authority to a religion, one should maintain the old faith of so many hundreds of years, and we should follow our parents in this, who successfully followed their own." Here, he presents the pagan religion as if it were speaking: "O fathers of the fatherland! Honor my gray years, to which this pious custom has brought me," Symmachus Book 10, Letter 54. Prudentius A Roman Christian poet who wrote a famous rebuttal to Symmachus's defense of paganism. responds to this argument of Symmachus in his second book Against Symmachus, verse 277 and following.