The decline of paganism and the rise of Christianity was significant in Beowulf. What did this shift mean and why was it significant?

When Beowulf was transcribed by English monks in the Anglo-Saxon Dark Ages, England was in the process of transitioning from a pagan island of warrior clans to a Christian nation. The process took hundreds of years. We see the presence of both paganism and Christianity in the epic poem.

The first Christian-like reference occurs on the very first page of the prologue when, relating the birth of one of Hrothgar's ancestors, Beo, we read,

And...

When Beowulf was transcribed by English monks in the Anglo-Saxon Dark Ages, England was in the process of transitioning from a pagan island of warrior clans to a Christian nation. The process took hundreds of years. We see the presence of both paganism and Christianity in the epic poem.

The first Christian-like reference occurs on the very first page of the prologue when, relating the birth of one of Hrothgar's ancestors, Beo, we read,

And he gave them more than his glory,

Conceived a son for the Danes, a new leader

Allowed them by the grace of God.

The mention of the monotheistic God points to a Christian influence.

After the monster Grendel has terrorized Herot, Hrothgar's people apparently begin lose whatever Christian faith they may have:

And sometimes they sacrificed to the old stone gods,

Made heathen vows, hoping for Hell's

Support, the Devil's guidance in driving

Their affliction off. That was their way,

And the heathen's only hope, Hell

always in their hearts, knowing neither God

Nor His passing as He walks through our world,

the Lord of Heaven and Earth . . .

Note that the narrator associates heathenism with “Hell” and the “Devil.”

There are many more references to “God” in the poem, and even an allusion to the Bible's Cain and Abel story, which the narrator uses to explain the origins of Grendel's race of monsters.

What we don't know for sure is whether or not the original oral version of the story contained these religious references or whether they were added by the Christian monks who first recorded the story in English monasteries in order to promote the growth and acceptance of Christianity in the slowly unifying island nation.