The journey turns out to more than he bargained for. Along the way Aidan is captured and enslaved by Vikings, and his trek to Byzantium takes a long and distant detour, filled with adventures and a lot of spiritual growth on Aiden\u2019s part.<\/p>\n This story is told by one of my favorite authors\u00a0Stephen Lawhead<\/a>\u00a0in his\u00a0novel\u00a0Byzantium<\/a>. S<\/em>everal of Lawhead\u2019s\u00a0novels center on the medieval world.\u00a0I like him because he weaves together religious and secular themes in a way that forces one to look at the\u00a0Christian faith\u00a0outside of familiar language and trappings\u2013which is what he does in this story about\u00a0Aiden.<\/p>\n At the end of the book, Aidan is back safe and sound in his native land when a lookout sees the Sea Wolves (Vikings) approaching. The abbey is in a state of panic, scurrying about to hide the treasure. They send Aidan to meet them, hoping his\u00a0familiarity\u00a0with Viking ways and facility with their language would dissuade them from sacking their peaceful abbey.<\/p>\n As they come closer, Aidan recognizes one of the Vikings as his old friend Gunnar. Soon, he is reunited with those who first enslaved him and then came to be his close friends.<\/p>\n As it turns out, the Vikings have come to Aidan\u2019s land not to plunder and pillage but to seek out their friend. Throughout their journeys together Aidan had opportunities to respond with Christian love to those who at first meant him only harm.<\/p>\n The Vikings come bearing a very expensive gift (a solid silver embossed book cover)\u2014only it is no gift but a first installment of a trade agreement.\u00a0They want to build \u201ca church for the Christ\u201d and they want Aidan, who introduced them to Christianity, to come back with them to oversee the project.<\/p>\n Since his journey\u2019s end. however, Aidan\u2019s struggles have brought him to a point of despair and unbelief, and he chides his visitors for trusting in a God who \u201ccares nothing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Gunnar responds that it is\u00a0their<\/em>\u00a0gods who \u201cneither hear nor care.\u201d What makes the Christian god different, Gunnar explains to Aiden, is that he came to live among the fisherfolk and was hung up on a tree to die.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I remember thinking,\u201d says Gunnar, \u201cthis Hanging God is unlike any of the others; this god suffers, too, just like his people\u2026.Does Odin do this for those who worship him? Does Thor suffer with us?\u201d<\/p>\n Gunnar, as an outsider, zeroes in on something distinctive about the Gospel: the Christian God is a \u201cHanging God,\u201d who A suffering God is a disorienting thought, if we let it sink in for a moment. It is also logically inexplicable. If true, however, it is, as Gunnar concluded, \u201cgood news.\u201d In our darkest moments, we are not alone.<\/p>\n **This post is edited from a November 2012 post and taken originally from my\u00a0Ecclesiastes\u00a0<\/a>commentary\u00a0published\u00a0earlier that same year.**<\/p>\n [Comments are moderated and I get to them as soon as I am able, but it can take as long as 24 hours depending on what\u2019s on T.V. Badgering\u00a0sorts of comments are immediately put out of their misery, though I will be sure to pray for your wretched and twisted souls.]<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/peteenns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/byzantium-1.jpeg\" "\\"byzantium\\"")
<\/a>In medieval Ireland a young scribe, Aidan, is living in an Irish monastery. He is chosen by the order to accompany some monks to Byzantium to present a gift to the Emperor.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0does not observe suffering from a distance but takes part in it.<\/p>\n