Jesus has risen near the interstate north of Cincinnati. A 62-ft. high sculpture of Christ appears to explode from the dirt behind the amphitheater at Monroe’s Solid Rock Church. From the waist down, he’s underground….

Enormous flea markets on both sides of highways at this exit make for large weekend traffic jams. Traders World is right next door. But Jesus faces west towards I-75 — highly visible — and you’d be crazy not to get off at the first off-ramp to worship and snap a photo.

The Big J. is a symbol of devotion for the congregation of 3,000 at Solid Rock, a nondenominational mega-church. Pastor Lawrence Bishop presides; his wife Darlene also founded the church and she evangelizes with her own tidy set of ministries. You can buy Darlene’s new book, “Your Life Follows Your Words,” or hear the Fire Choir “Worship on Fire” to get a sense of what you’re missing inside.

Lynch has created other larger-than-life sculpture in places such as Las Vegas (Caesar’s big Neptune) and Disney World. Church leaders believe it is the World’s Largest Christ (or at least the W.L. half-buried Messiah) and have submitted it for consideration for a Guinness World Record.

The pose of the statue as generated plenty of discussion. The upraised arms familiar to “praise” service attendees conjures different images for locals, who refer to the big Savior as “Touchdown Jesus,” or “Drowning Jesus.”

Soon after the statue’s completion, tipster Lori Baker wrote us: “I found it interesting that a poll taken of locals concerning the statue of Jesus in Monroe had the following results: 25% feel that it is a ‘Godsend, good for Monroe,’ while 75% found that it was an ‘Eyesore, bad for Monroe.’”

October 2006: The statue continues to accumulate nicknames, and is the subject of a novelty song by comedian Heywood Banks, “Big Butter Jesus.” The song reminds all to “Spread the word.”

April 2005: The pond has been filled, and the landscaping completed, making the giant Jesus appear as if rising from the waters. This is a dramatic spot for Solid Rock baptisms, visible from the highway.

It may also attract passing heathens, caught in the act of “High Five”-ing the Lord. We’re sure that’s fine with the church — they know their Mega-Message reaches people in many ways.

Ásatrú (Icelandic, “Æsir faith”) is a modern revival of the pre-Christian Nordic religion as described in the Norse epic Eddas.
Terminology

Ásatrú is an Old Norse word consisting of Ása, referring to the Norse gods, and trú, “troth” or “faith”. Thus, Ásatrú means “religion of the Æsir.” The term was coined by Edvard Grieg in his 1870 opera Olaf Trygvason, in the context of 19th century romantic nationalism.

Generally synonymous terms for Asatru include Germanic Neopaganism, Germanic Heathenism, Forn Sed, Odinism, Heithni or Heathenry.

The original, ancient form of Norse religion is usually referred to as Germanic paganism, Germanic religion, or Norse mythology.
History

The ancient origins of Germanic religion date from prehistoric times and are thus unknown. Most of what is known about Germanic religion is derived from descriptions by Latin writers such as Julius Caesar (1st cent. BC) and Tacitus (1st cent. AD), descriptions of early Christian missionaries, and archaeological evidence including cult objects, amulets, grave goods, and place names.

Anglo-Saxon England was converted from Norse paganism to Christianity in the 7th century, Scandinavia in the 10th century. The Germanic/Norse religion gradually disappeared after this, although Christianity absorbed some of its external features, such as the name and popular customs of Easter.

Asatru, the modern attempt to revive the old Norse faith, was founded by the Icelandic farmer Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (1924–1993). Beinteinsson was a sheep farmer and a priest in the religion, who published a book of rímur (Icelandic rhymed epic poetry) in 1945. In 1972 he petitioned the Icelandic government to recognize the Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið (“Icelandic fellowship of Æsir faith”) as a religious body. It did so in 1973, and Denmark and Norway have since followed.

According to one Asatru website, similar communities were formed in the USA and UK at the same time as those in Iceland, each unaware of the existence of the others. This is a sign that “Odin, the wanderer, is once again seeking worshippers.” (Irminsul Ættir)

Today, there are small groups of Asatru adherents throughout Scandinavia and North America. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, in the 1990s the approximately 300 Icelandic adherents hoped to dechristianize Iceland by the year 2000, the 1000th anniversary of the island’s christianization.
Texts

Neither ancient Norse religion nor modern Asatru is predominantly text-based, but Norse myths are beautifully preserved in two Icelandic epics called the Eddas.

The first Edda dates from the 12th century AD, when Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241), an Icelandic poet, historian and politician, retold many Norse myths with quotations from poems and explanations of mythological imagery. His goal was to provide a handbook for poets so the ancient lore would not be lost. It was called Edda, which means “great-grandmother” but may also be derived from Oddi, Sturluson’s hometown. It is now known as Snorri’s Edda or the Prose Edda.

In 1643, a 13th-cent. manuscript book known as the Codex regius was found in an Icelandic farmhous, containing poems on gods and heroes. This collection, together with a few poems from other manuscripts, is called the Elder Edda, Poetic Edda, or Saemund’s Edda (after an 11th-cent. scholar). The poems may date from as early as 800 AD and appear to have been composed in pre-Christian times in Norway. They recount the exploits of the gods Freyr, Loki, Odin, and Thor and include riddle contests between gods and giants, and much about the creation and destruction of the worlds of gods and humans.
Beliefs

Ancient Norse paganism and modern Asatru are polytheistic. In the Viking Age (9th-11th cents.), there were four main deities (see below), with earlier gods remembered as minor deities and other supernatural beings of varying importance. Most of these gods are worshipped by modern followers of Asatru.

The Norse gods are of three different types:

* Aesir – the gods of the tribe or clan, representing kingship, order, craft, etc. (incl. Odin and Thor)
* Vanir – gods of the fertility of the earth and forces of nature (incl. Freyr and Freyja)
* Jotnar – giant-gods who are in a constant state of war with the Aesir, representing chaos and destruction

The four main deities in Germanic religion and Asatru are:

* Odin (Germanic Woden) – god of magic, poetry, riches and the dead; ruler of Valhalla (gave his name to Wednesday)
* Thor – sky god who wields a hammer, controls the weather, and protects the law and the community (gave his name to Thursday)
* Freyr – fertility god represented with a phallic statue and seen as the founder of the Swedish royal dynasty
* Freyja – fertility goddess of love and beauty, sister of Freyr, known by many names (including Frigg, Odin’s wife and patron of families, who gave her name to Friday)

Other deities:

* Njord – father of Freyr and Freyja, god of ships, sea and lakes
* Tyr (Germanic Tiu) – god of battle, sacrifice, and justice (gave his name to Tuesday)
* Ullr – god of death, winter, and hunting
* Loki – the trickster

The original Germanic religion did not have a unified conception of the afterlife. Some may have believed that fallen warriors would go to Valhalla to live happily with Odin until the Ragnarök, but it seems unlikely this belief was widespread. Others seemed to believe that there was no afterlife. According to the “Hávamál,” any misfortune was better than to be burnt on a funeral pyre, for a corpse was a useless object.

More often people believed that life went on for a time after death but was inseparable from the body. If men had been evil in life, they could persecute the living when dead; they might have to be killed a second time or even a third before they were finished. Some records imply that the dead needed company; a wife, mistress, or servant would be placed in the grave with them. On the whole, beliefs in afterlife seem rather gloomy. The dead pass, perhaps by slow stages, to a dark, misty world called Niflheim (Niflheimr).

Modern Asatru beliefs about the afterlife also vary. One Asatru website states:

We believe that there is an afterlife, and that those who have lived virtuous lives will go on to experience greater fulfillment, pleasure, and challenge. Those who have led lives characterized more by vice than by virtue will be separated from kin, doomed to an existence of dullness and gloom. The precise nature of the afterlife – what it will look like and feel like – is beyond our understanding and is dealt with symbolically in the myths. There is also a tradition in Asatru of rebirth within the family line. Perhaps the individual is able to choose whether or not he or she is re-manifested in this world, or there may be natural laws which govern this. In a sense, of course, we all live on in our descendants quite apart from an afterlife as such. To be honest, we of Asatru do not overly concern ourselves with the next world. We live here and now, in this existence. If we do this and do it well, the next life will take care of itself.

Practices

Old Norse/Germanic Religion

In the old Germanic religion, the central practice was animal and human sacrifice, conducted in the open or in groves and forests. Roman authors repeatedly mention the sacrifice of prisoners of war to the gods of victory.

One detailed description of a sacri
ficial feast is given in a saga about a king of Norway, in which cattle were slaughtered, blood was sprinkled inside and out, the meat was consumed and toasts were drunk to Odin, Njörd, and Freyr. Sacrifices of a more private kind might include the sacrifice of an ox to a god or smearing an elf mound with bull’s blood.

Women known as Volva had prophetic gifts. They visited homes, practiced divination and foretold children’s destinies. They were probably linked with the Vanir (fertility deities).

Temples were rare but wooden temples seem to have been built in later periods. A major religious center was at Upsala, in NE Sweden.

Asatru (Modern Neopaganism)

Communities of Asatru are called Kindreds, Hearths, or Garths. Priests are called Gothi; priestesses Gythia.

A central Asatru ritual is blot, which means sacrifice and may be connected with the word “blood.” In place of traditional animal sacrifice, followers of Asatru offer mead (honey-wine), beer or cider to the gods. The liquid is consecrated to a god or goddess, then the worshippers drink a portion of it and pour the rest as a libation.

Another major practice is sumbel, a ritual toast in three rounds. The first round is to the gods, starting with Odin, who won the mead of poetry from the Giant Suttung. A few drops are poured to Loki to ward off his tricks. The second round is to ancestors and other honorable dead, and the third round is open.

Aladura (“Prayer People”) is a Yoruba term for various prophet-healing churches that have developed in west Africa since about 1918.

• Date founded: c.1922-1930
• Place founded: West Nigeria
• Founder: various founders
• Adherents: approx. 1 million

Anglican communities had flourished among the Yoruba between 1895 and 1920, after the arrival of missionaries. The Aladura movement began about 1918 among the younger elite in the well-established Christian community based on dissatisfaction with Western religious forms, European control of the churches, and lack of spiritual power. The were also influenced by literature from the small U.S. divine-healing Faith Tabernacle Church of Philadelphia.

The 1918 world influenza epidemic precipitated the formation of a prayer group of Anglican laymen at Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria; the group emphasized divine healing, prayer protection, and a puritanical moral code. By 1922 divergences from Anglican practice forced the separation of a group that became known as the Faith Tabernacle, with several small congregations.

The main expansion occurred when a prophet-healer, Joseph Babalola (1906–59), became the center of a mass divine-healing movement in 1930. Yoruba religion was rejected, and Pentecostal features that had been suppressed under U.S. influence were restored. Opposition from traditional rulers, government, and mission churches led the movement to request help from the pentecostal Apostolic Church in Britain. Missionaries arrived in 1932, and the Aladura movement spread and consolidated as the Apostolic Church.

But problems arose over the missionaries’ use of Western medicines—clearly contrary to doctrines of divine healing—their exclusion of polygamists, and their assertion of full control over the movement. So in 1938–41 the Babalola and (later Sir) Isaac Akinyele formed the Christ Apostolic Church, which by the 1960s had 100,000 members and its own schools and had spread to Ghana. The Apostolic Church continued its connection with its British counterpart; other secessions produced further “apostolic” churches.

The Cherubim and Seraphim society was founded by Moses Orimolade Tunolase, a Yoruba prophet, and Christiana Abiodun Akinsowon, an Anglican woman who had experienced visions and trances. In 1925–26 they formed the society with doctrines of revelation and divine healing replacing traditional charms and medicine. They separated from the Anglican and other churches in 1928. In the same year the founders parted, and further divisions produced more than 10 major and many minor sections, which spread widely in Nigeria and to Benin (formerly Dahomey), Togo, and Ghana.

A smaller movement, the self-help Aiyetoro (“happy city”), was built on piles on a lagoon mudbank east of Lago by a group of persecuted Cherubim and Seraphim in 1947. Men and women lived separately, strict morals were enforced, a radical economic communism and diverse sophisticated business activities resulted in great prosperity for more than 2,000 members, and death was believed to have been conquered. But by the 1970s internal dissension had appeared and the original utopian impetus had faded.

The Church of the Lord (Aladura) is the largest Aladura movement. It was founded by Josiah Olunowo Oshitelu, an Anglican catechist and schoolteacher, whose unusual visions, fastings, and devotions led to his dismissal in 1926. By 1929 he was preaching judgment on idolatry and native charms and medicines, uttering prophecies, and healing through prayer, fasting, and holy water. The Church of the Lord (Aladura), which he founded at Ogere in 1930, spread to north and east Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and beyond Africa—New York City and London—where several other Aladura congregations also meet.

Developments since the 1970s have been replacing the Aladura form with Pentecostal Revivalist movements influenced by American models, such as the Church of God Mission in Benin City, and with “spiritual science” movements. The latter meet similar needs as the Aladura by offering semi-secret knowledge of how to acquire spiritual power, and are modeled on examples outside of Christianity such as Subud and the Rosicrucians, which have been long present in Nigeria.

The Aladura movement continues to grow and includes many small secessions, ephemeral groups, prophets with one or two congregations, and healing practitioners in west Africa, Britain, and the United States.

Aladura practices are a mix of Anglican and African rituals. In the Church of the Lord (Aladura), for example, ministers are given an iron rod about two and a half feet long, looped in a handle at one end, as part of their insignia of office. It symbolizes the powers of the prophet. A prophet touches the objects he consecrates brought by people who come for prayers and healing sessions. Rosaries are used to consecrate water or to pray the psalms. Vestments and gowns are widely used.