Did a Little Birdie Really Tell Odin? Applying Theory of Mind to Old Norse Religion

Abstract

Theory of mind, the theory that humans attribute mental states to others, has become increasingly influential in the Cognitive Science of Religion in recent years, due to several papers which posit that supernatural agents, like gods, demons, and the dead, are accredited greater than normal knowledge and awareness. Using Old Norse mythology and literary accounts of Old Norse religion, supported by archaeological evidence, I examine the extent to which this modern perspective on religious theory of mind is reflected in religious traditions from the Viking Age. I focus especially on the extent to which superperception and superknowledge were attributed to Old Norse supernatural agents and the impact of this on expressions of religion; how the attribution of theory of mind varied with circumstances and the agents to which it was being attributed; and the extent to which features of religious theory of mind common in other societies were present in the historical North. On this basis, I also evaluate the usefulness of Old Norse historiography to Cognitive Science of Religion and vice versa.

Bonding over a death: signalling in the funeral episode of Ibn Faḍlān’s Risala

“…63 I am more convinced by connections, again made by Montgomery, with the seiðr platforms of vǫlur in Icelandic sagas; 64 height is a key motif when agents in Old Norse literature like vǫlur manifest greater-than-human perception (the stress on vision in Ibn Faḍlān's quotation of the girl's words is also characteristic). 65 The space beneath the almost two-dimensional platform is probably not important at all.…”