Christianity in Iceland

The conflict between these two religions comes up quickly and is settled rather quickly as well, though its effects are lasting. Njal is seen as a wise character long before the advent of the new religion, so when he is among the first to pick it up, it seems to be painted as the 'correct' religion in some ways as well. Because Gunnar's death takes place in a pagan Iceland and Njal's takes place in Christian Iceland, we can glean a lot about how these two religions were perceived through the associated symbols therein.

Gunnar is heard reciting poetry from his grave, sitting up, while Njal is found basically unburned and even glowing. There is a spiritual power to both religions as demonstrated by the manifest pagan curses throughout the saga, including the black fog toward the beginning, the earth-splitting chasm curse in the middle, and the witch-ride toward the end. Aside from Njal's early adoption, the saga only seems to assert that Christianity wins out in the end through legal process. The significance of this religious conflict seems to be in its immense power to divide people, as any reader can see by taking a look at modern politics, wars, and really any other time throughout history. After the Battle of Clontarf, a conflict between the Christian King and pagan viking forces, and the extended results of Valgard's pagan curses on Mord's holy objects resulting in the blood vengeance that takes up the entirety of the second half of the saga, we can see that the battle between the religions had a much larger impact than the initial legal announcement declaring Christianity the winner.