Beowulf, Heroic Culture and Christianity

I had an email from a student asking about the relationship between Germanic heroic culture and Christianity in Beowulf. I've copied my reply to him below - I hope this will be useful for some of you.  

The relationship between Germanic heroic culture and Christianity in the poem is a difficult subject. I don't expect you to have an answer to this problem in your midterms! You should know that the problem exists, however.

Much of the poem seems to be clearly Germanic, heroic, "pagan". For example, the values celebrated in the poem are those of the warrior, and of kinship, and of a life after death achieved through fame on earth for heroic deeds, rather than in a Christian heaven.  Yet the poem also contains allusions to the story of Cain and Abel and a great flood caused by God - both stories from the Bible. On the other hand, if it is a Christian poem, why is there no clear reference to Christ anywhere?

There are basically two theories. One is that the poem is fundamentally an old Germanic, heroic, "pagan" poem that a Christian scribe (probably a monk) tried to make "Christian"  as he wrote it down. People who support this theory usually argue that he didn't do a very good job! For them, Beowulf would be a better, more unified poem if the Christian elements had not been added.  This theory was first argued by German critics in the nineteenth century.

The other theory is that the poem is more deeply, truly Christian. According to this theory, the poem may have its origins in Germanic heroic culture, but it is full of Christian ideas and references. Christian elements are fundamental to its structure and meaning, and the Germanic, pagan setting is more 'decorative'. This theory was put forward by in the middle of the twentieth century.

Now, the most popular view of Beowulf tries to find a compromise between these two theories. The poem itself is seen as an attempt to bring together  and assimilate Christian and pagan views.

There is an interesting article on this question here. This is a DIFFICULT article, but you might find the first four paragraphs helpful. PLEASE DON'T WORRY if you don't understand it all, though. After the first four paragraphs the author gives his own answer to the question - this is even more complicated. I'd suggest you ignore that part!

As I said, I don't expect you to have an answer to this problem!  You should simply be aware of it and able to give a couple of examples of why it is difficult to answer.