Apparently I’m a dinosaur.
And I want an explanation!
I’m going to put my neck out here and make a call – these guys are nut cases. Who in their right mind would attempt to interpret an Anglo Saxon saga as literal truth with dinosaurs as the monsters in support of creationist theology?
But wait! I found another lot:
“Beowulf and the Monsters
Beowulf liked adventure more than ruling the land. A band of warriors adventured with Beowulf. In those days warriors often vowed loyalty to their lord, or leader, and a group trusted and respected each other and risked their lives for each other. They shared the plunder they gained through victories. Beowulf with his band of warriors fought and killed monster animals.
One kind of monster was called “wormkind,” large serpent creatures that lived in hidden lairs sometimes near a swampy lake. At high tide the lakes could be connected with the sea, so monsters could traverse from one environment to the other if they liked. The wormkind that lived deep in the sea were called sea dragons. A species of sea dragon was the wave-thrasher (ythgewinnes in Old English) that swam along the surface.1 Vikings carved these onto the prows of their ships to try to ward off real dragons. As if land and sea monsters weren’t enough, villagers also were threatened with huge flying reptiles. Books today have dinosaur names for these various monsters. The flying kinds are called pterosaurs. Most dinosaurs are extinct now or almost so, but now and then some sightings show that a few survivors remain in the world.”
That bit only slightly less unsubtle, and disturbed me because it was on a home school part of ‘Crosswalk‘.
I don’t mind people home schooling – I’ve thought of doing it myself in some circumstances, and well, creation is going to be taught in Christian schools, but I really really really draw the line at using a myth from one tradition to prop up another especially when all kinds of additional interpretation is edited in.
A third site intimates that Grendel the moster was a juvenile Tyrannosaurus.
Please someone come to the rescue of reason at this point!
Isaac Asimov once said that if it is the “Choice between bad science and Cecil B. DeMille, Give me DeMille, and quickly!”
I found all that at Another Medievalist quite by accident tonight – it was the reference to ‘Grendel’ that caught me.