Nordic Israelism or Norse Israelism is the belief that Scandinavian peoples, or the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Faroe Islands (part of Denmark), Finland, Iceland, Norway) descend from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Although there is evidence of such a belief from literature during the Early Modern Period, Nordic Israelism as a movement and ideology only emerged in the latter half of the 19th century among several early proponents of British Israelism.
A 15th-century Latin chronicle, "Chronicon Holsatiae vetus", found in Gottfried Leibniz's Accessiones historicae (1698), states the Danes were of the Tribe of Dan, while the Jutes the Jews. [1] Later the antiquarian Henry Spelman in 1620 had further claimed that the Danes were the Israelite Tribe of Dan, based on the apparent similarity in name. [2] In the 18th century the Swedish historian Olof von Dalin believed that the ancient Finns (alongside Lapps and Estonians) who sprung from the Neuri descended ultimately from the lost tribes of Israel:
"...the Neuri seem to be remnants of the Ten Tribes of Israel which Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, brought as captives out of Canaan... [When one realises that] the language of the ancient Finns, Lapps and Estonians is similar to the Hebrew and even that this people in ancient times reckoned their year's beginning from the first of March, and Saturday as their Sabbath, then one sees that the Neuri in all probability had this origin." [3]
John Eurenius (1688–1751), a Swedish pastor in Torsåker, Angermanland, Sweden, also connected the Israelites to the Nordic countries, in his Atlantica Orientalis (1751) he theorised that the Gods of Norse mythology were deified ancestors from the Levant, who he connected to Israel. [4] Olof Rudbeck the Younger in the 18th century also attempted to prove that the Nordic languages sprung from Hebrew. [5]
Nordic Israelism as an established movement emerged as an offshoot of British Israelism in the 1850s. [6] Key British Israelite authors such as John Cox Gawler and J. H. Allen first identified the Tribe of Dan with Denmark and others with different Scandinavian countries (e.g. Naphtali with Norway), while the remaining tribes they equated with Britain. [7] Other British Israelites such as Edward Hine however took a more particularist view, deciding that only the British nation fulfilled the prophecy for Israel and that all the Israelites should be identified with Britain, not Scandinavia. [8] Nonetheless Hine still believed that the Tribe of Dan had at one stage been in Denmark, from which he believed the name of the country derived but that Dan's final destined resting place (as well as the other tribes of Israel) was Britain. Other British Israelites took this view, maintaining that the Israelites migrated across Europe, having entered from Asia, leaving their name across various locations, but ultimately their final resting place was Britain. [9] [10] British Israelites however who did not subscribe to this more particularist view initially attacked Hine's identifications in the The Standard of Israel magazine quarterly of the "Anglo-Israel Association". [11] Later however, most British Israelites fused their views with the Nordic-Israelism offshoot, as identity groups were set up across Scandinavia promoting the identification of certain Israelite tribes with the Nordic countries and they remained closely linked to British-Israel organisations such as the British-Israel-World Federation. [12]
Anna Larssen Bjørner (1875–1955) and Sigurd Bjørner (1875–1953), the founders of Danish Pentecostalism and the "Apostolic Church" in Denmark are considered to have been early pioneers in the Nordic-Israelism movement. They published from the 1920s a quarterly magazine entitled Evangeliebladet which covered identifications of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel with Denmark, other Scandinavian countries and published some British Israelism literature. [2] They also published regular articles from other proponents of the Nordic Israel identity, including those of Ole Jørgen Johnsen, a Norwegian preacher from Hasla who authored Israel i de siste dage ("Israel in the Last Days") in 1924.
The renowned engineer Albert Hiorth was a prominent Nordic Israelism proponent and author of the early 20th century.
Nordisk Israel is a Scandinavian organisation which still runs promoting the Nordic variant of British Israelism. [13]
Many of the tenets or beliefs core to Nordic Israelism cross over with British Israelism, however there are notable differences in the identifications of the Ten lost tribes.
Proponents of Nordic Israelism follow John Cox Gawler's identification of the Tribe of Dan with Denmark. However Gawler also placed Dan in Scotland and Ireland, an identification British Israelites follow, but proponents of Nordic Israelism stress more on the identification with Denmark. [14]
Finland is identified with the Tribe of Issachar by Nordic Israelites. Proponents point out that in Finnish the word for Father is Isä, connecting the word to Issachar and its Hebrew etymology:
"...But one of the most convincing details comes from the Finnish word for Father, which is, Isä - almost confirming ancient Finnish ties with the Israelite tribe of Issachar. Only Finnish has such a unique word for Father. [15]
Nordisk Israel identify the Tribe of Naphtali with Norway. [16]
The pyramidologist Adam Rutherford in 1937 published Iceland’s Great Inheritance (1937) in which he connected the Tribe of Benjamin to Iceland. Modern proponents of Nordic Israelism follow this identification and articles have been published further on the identification. [17]
Thor Heyerdahl's Jakten på Odin is often cited by modern Nordic Israelites to support their theories. [18]
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the Christianization of Scandinavia, and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 8th to the 15th centuries.
Scandinavia is a subregion of Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. Scandinavia most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also refer to the Scandinavian Peninsula. In English usage, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for Nordic countries. Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes included in Scandinavia for their ethnolinguistic relations with Sweden, Norway and Denmark. While Finland differs from other Nordic countries in this respect, some authors call it Scandinavian due to its economic and cultural similarities.
The Scandinavian Peninsula is located in Northern Europe, and roughly comprises the mainlands of Sweden, Norway and the northwestern area of Finland.
British Israelism is a pseudo-historical belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. With roots in the 16th century, British Israelism was inspired by several 19th century English writings such as John Wilson's 1840 Our Israelitish Origin. From the 1870s onward, numerous independent British Israelite organizations were set up throughout the British Empire as well as in the United States; as of the early 21st century, a number of these organizations are still active. In the United States, the idea gave rise to the Christian Identity movement.
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also referred to as the Nordic languages, a direct translation of the most common term used among Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish scholars and people.
The Tribe of Dan was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, according to the Torah. According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe initially settled in the hill lands bordering Judah and the Philistines but migrated north due to pressure of their enemies, settling at Laish, near Mount Hermon.
The Scandinavian defence union was a historical idea to establish a military alliance between Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark after the end of World War II, but the idea did not come about when Denmark, Iceland and Norway joined NATO in 1949 at the request of the United States, while Finland and Sweden did not.
The history of Scandinavia is the history of the geographical region of Scandinavia and its peoples. The region is located in Northern Europe, and consists of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Finland and Iceland are at times, especially in English-speaking contexts, considered part of Scandinavia.
The Twelve Tribes of Israel are, according to Hebrew scriptures, the descendants of the biblical patriarch Jacob, who collectively form the Israelite nation. The tribes were through his twelve sons through his wives, Leah and Rachel, and his concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. In modern scholarship, there is skepticism as to whether there ever were twelve Israelite tribes, with the use of the number 12 thought more likely to signify a symbolic tradition as part of a national founding myth, although some scholars disagree with this view.
The Anglo-Norse Society in London is a society based in England for advancing the education of the citizens of Britain and Norway about each other's country and way of life.
Nordic and Scandinavian Americans are Americans of Scandinavian and/or Nordic ancestry, including Danish Americans, Faroese Americans, Finnish Americans, Greenlandic Americans, Icelandic Americans, Norwegian Americans, and Swedish Americans. Also included are persons who reported 'Scandinavian' ancestry on their census. According to 2021 census estimates, there are approximately 9,365,489 people of Scandinavian ancestry in the United States.
The Nordic Flag Society is an association of Nordic vexillologists. It has an official name in the languages of all the five countries in which its activities are principally based: Nordiska Flaggsällskapet (Swedish), Nordisk Flagselskab (Danish), Nordisk Flaggselskap (Norwegian), Pohjoismaiden Lippuseura (Finnish), and Norræna Fánafélagið (Icelandic). Founded in Copenhagen on 27 January 1973, the Nordic Flag Society is dedicated to the study of flags and promotion of vexillology in Scandinavia.
Scandinavian design is a design movement characterized by simplicity, minimalism and functionality that emerged in the early 20th century, and subsequently flourished in the 1950s throughout the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.
Edward Hine originated the notion, still current in Anglo-Israelism and some strains of U.S. Christian fundamentalism, that modern Germans are partly descended from the ancient Assyrians. In this belief system, the British are the sole descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, in opposition to other Anglo-Israelism advocates who included Germans in the lost tribes. Hine's view, instead, is that the German are descendants of the Assyrians. Hine's view, thus, considers the British as the Kingdom of Israel and the Germans as the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Those who believe this hold many pseudohistorical views in an attempt to back this view. This primordialist idea, like the Anglo-Israelism out of which it emerged, has no foundation in modern history, linguistics, or genetics.
Edward Hine was an influential proponent of British Israelism in the 1870s and 1880s, drawing on the earlier work of Richard Brothers (1794) and John Wilson (1840). Hine went as far as to conclude that "It is an utter impossibility for England ever to be defeated. And this is another result arising entirely from the fact of our being Israel."
Modern paganism in Scandinavia is almost exclusively dominated by Germanic Heathenry, in forms and groups reviving Norse paganism. These are generally split into two streams characterised by a different approach to folk and folklore: Ásatrú, a movement that been associated with the most innovative and Edda-based approaches within Heathenry, and Forn Siðr, Forn Sed or Nordisk Sed, a movement marked by being generally more traditionalist, ethnic-focused and folklore-rooted, characterised by a worldview which its proponents call folketro. Forn Siðr may also be a term for Scandinavian Heathenry in general. Vanatrú defines the religion of those individuals or groups in which the worship of the Vanir dominates.
Foreningen Norden, Föreningen Norden (Swedish), Norræna félagið (Icelandic), Norrøna Felagið (Faroese), Peqatigiiffik Nunat Avannarliit (Greenlandic) and Pohjola-Norden (Finnish), The Norden Associations, sometimes referred to as The Nordic Associations are non-governmental organisations in the Nordic countries promoting civil cooperation between the Nordic countries. Established since 1919, there are Norden Associations in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland. Since 1965 these national branches are grouped in an umbrella organisation Foreningene Nordens Forbund (FNF), The Confederation of Norden Associations. The co-operation between the Nordic countries include projects such as Nordjobb, Nordic Library Week and Norden at the Cinema.
The Nordic diaspora may refer to:
North Germanic peoples, Nordic peoples and in a medieval context Norsemen, were a Germanic linguistic group originating from the Scandinavian Peninsula. They are identified by their cultural similarities, common ancestry and common use of the Proto-Norse language from around 200 AD, a language that around 800 AD became the Old Norse language, which in turn later became the North Germanic languages of today.
The Tribe of Naphtali was one of the northernmost of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is one of the ten lost tribes.