It’s a big world out there, and we at What He Said are all about broadening horizons. I found this article today about the conversion of Iceland to Christianity. Early islanders were pagans who worshipped the Norse gods and were fairly resistant to Christian missionaries’ approaches:

They had limited success in their attempts to convert Icelanders. Allegedly, they were ridiculed and eventually forced to flee the country. The king [of Norway] was of course not pleased to hear that, so he sent his bishop Thangbrandur to Iceland to spread the word of the Lord.

Thangbrandur boasted some success in baptizing a few chieftains but like his predecessors he was also met with opposition and got into trouble because he killed a few Icelandic skalds who composed lampooning poetry about him.

Eventually, King Ólafur learned that conversion by violence and murder was not working and instead pushed preaching. Iceland’s conversion to Christianity became the most peaceful switch in history.

Tags: Christianity, Iceland, King Olafur, Kristnitakan