120 Semester Credit Hours
Program in Development
The Bachelor of Eddic Studies is currently in development and is not yet open for enrollment. Program structure, curriculum, course requirements, and institutional policies may be revised prior to launch.
The Bachelor of Eddic Studies (B.E.S.) is a planned 120-semester-credit-hour religious degree devoted to the study, interpretation, practice, teaching, and stewardship of the Old Norse religious tradition.
The program approaches Eddic literature, saga tradition, Old Norse language, religious history, law, archaeology, ritual, ethics, and community life as interconnected sources for understanding the religious worldview and inherited traditions of the Norse world.
Through sustained engagement with primary sources, historical evidence, and religious interpretation, students develop the knowledge and judgment necessary to understand the tradition in its historical setting while considering its continuing significance for devotion, character formation, religious leadership, community life, and responsible stewardship.
The B.E.S. is organized around four progressive stages:
Inheritance → Understanding → Formation → Stewardship
• Total Degree: 120 semester credit hours
• Program Structure: 24 courses × 5 credits
• Year I — Foundations: 30 credits
• Year II — Understanding: 30 credits
• Year III — Formation: 30 credits
• Year IV — Stewardship: 30 credits
• Minimum HIES Residency: 60 credits
• Maximum Transfer Credit: 60 credits
• Minimum Passing Course Grade: 70%
• Minimum HIES GPA: 2.0
• Standard Completion: 4 years
• Maximum Completion: 8 years
30 Semester Credit Hours
5 credits
Introduction to the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda as foundational sources for understanding Old Norse religious tradition, mythology, cosmology, ethics, sacred narrative, poetic tradition, and cultural memory.
Students examine the historical setting, organization, transmission, preservation, and interpretive challenges of the Eddic corpus while learning to distinguish primary religious sources from later commentary and reconstruction.
5 credits
Close study of major mythological and wisdom poems, including Völuspá, Hávamál, and Vafþrúðnismál.
The course examines creation, cosmology, divine relationships, wisdom, fate, mortality, human conduct, sacred order, and relationships among the Gods, humanity, and the world.
Students consider the religious and ethical significance of these texts within the wider Old Norse tradition.
5 credits
Study of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda as a major witness to Old Norse mythology, religious memory, poetic language, and inherited sacred tradition.
Students examine mythological narratives, poetic theory, kennings, preservation of traditional material, Christian-era transmission, and the challenges involved in using the text as a source for Old Norse religious interpretation.
5 credits
Introduction to selected family sagas, legendary sagas, and kings' sagas as sources for understanding religious belief, household life, social obligation, honor, oath, hospitality, leadership, kinship, conflict, conversion, and community stability.
Students learn to read saga literature critically while considering how narrative sources preserve and interpret the religious and ethical world of medieval Scandinavia.
5 credits
Survey of the historical development of Old Norse religious life from the late Iron Age through the medieval period.
Topics include settlement, household organization, kingship, assemblies, law, sacred spaces, ritual practice, regional variation, contact with Christianity, conversion, and the transformation and preservation of religious tradition throughout Scandinavia and the North Atlantic.
5 credits
Study of moral and religious thought expressed through Eddic poetry and saga literature.
Students examine wisdom, courage, moderation, hospitality, reciprocity, loyalty, oath, reputation, responsibility, restraint, fate, and the consequences of human choices.
The course emphasizes ethical formation within the Old Norse religious worldview.
30 Semester Credit Hours
5 credits
Introduction to Old Norse language concepts, key vocabulary, pronunciation, grammatical forms, names, and terms relevant to Eddic and religious studies. The course is designed to help students recognize and interpret important Old Norse words and expressions encountered in translations and scholarly discussions; it is not intended to develop full independent reading fluency in Old Norse.
5 credits
Continued study of key Old Norse terms, names, linguistic concepts, and translation issues encountered in Eddic, saga, and religious sources. Students compare translations, examine the meanings and interpretive significance of selected terms, and strengthen their ability to use linguistic evidence responsibly without requiring independent reading of complete Old Norse texts.
5 credits
Introduction to textual criticism, translation comparison, manuscript transmission, editorial practice, and responsible religious interpretation.
Students examine competing readings of selected Eddic texts and learn to distinguish manuscript evidence, editorial reconstruction, scholarly interpretation, and contemporary theological application.
5 credits
Study of law, assemblies, oath, compensation, kinship obligation, dispute resolution, property, reconciliation, and communal responsibility within the Old Norse world. Using saga narratives and accessible translated selections from surviving medieval legal traditions, students examine the relationship between law, religion, oath-bound obligation, social order, and the maintenance of frith. The course does not require students to read Icelandic legal codes in the original language.
5 credits
Historical study of runic writing, major runic alphabets, inscriptions, literacy, language change, memorial practice, sacred expression, and the role of writing in preserving religious and cultural memory.
Students evaluate runic evidence critically and distinguish historical uses of runes from later interpretations and modern claims.
5 credits
Study of archaeological evidence relevant to Old Norse religious life, including settlements, halls, burials, cult sites, sacred landscapes, ships, monuments, ritual objects, art, offerings, and material expressions of belief.
The course emphasizes how material evidence complements, complicates, or challenges literary descriptions of religious practice.
30 Semester Credit Hours
5 credits
Examination of kings, chieftains, householders, law-speakers, counselors, ritual leaders, and other figures as case studies in religious and communal leadership.
Students consider authority, judgment, loyalty, courage, restraint, responsibility, hospitality, failure, legacy, and the moral obligations of those entrusted with leadership.
5 credits
Focused historical and literary study of Hákon the Good, examining his education, kingship, law, religious circumstances, political challenges, leadership decisions, death, and later literary memory.
The course uses Hákon as a case study in religious conviction, cultural transition, reconciliation, responsibility, and leadership within a divided community.
5 credits
Study of conflict and reconciliation through Eddic wisdom, saga narratives, religious ethics, and historical law.
Students examine feud, mediation, compensation, restraint, justice, oath, reconciliation, forgiveness, responsibility, and the conditions necessary for durable frith within families, kindreds, and communities.
5 credits
Development of religious communication through storytelling, textual exposition, speech, poetry, teaching, and public presentation.
Students draw from Old Norse oral and literary traditions while learning to communicate sacred narratives, religious teachings, and primary texts accurately and responsibly.
5 credits
Study of household, kindred, kinship, friendship, hospitality, reciprocity, assembly, mutual responsibility, service, and communal obligation within Old Norse religious life.
Students consider how religious communities balance individual honor with duty to family, kindred, guests, neighbors, and the wider community.
5 credits
Advanced religious formation seminar exploring Eddic wisdom in relation to mortality, adversity, wealth, ambition, self-mastery, friendship, reputation, courage, humility, responsibility, and the pursuit of a worthy life.
Students are challenged to move from intellectual understanding toward disciplined character and mature religious judgment.
30 Semester Credit Hours
5 credits
Advanced integrative study of Eddic literature, saga evidence, Old Norse language, religious history, archaeology, law, ethics, and sacred tradition.
Students practice distinguishing historical evidence from interpretation, reconstruction, theological reflection, and contemporary religious application.
5 credits
Advanced study of Old Norse religious belief and practice through literary, historical, linguistic, and archaeological evidence.
Topics include the Gods and other holy powers, sacred spaces, offerings, blót, seasonal observances, ritual gatherings, ancestors, landvættir, sacred reciprocity, religious authority, and relationships between people, land, and divine powers.
5 credits
Study and practice of religious education within the Eddic tradition.
Students learn to teach Eddic literature, religious history, ethics, ritual traditions, and primary texts to different audiences through lesson planning, discussion leadership, textual exposition, and responsible interpretation.
5 credits
Study of the preservation, transmission, interpretation, and responsible presentation of Old Norse religious heritage.
Topics include manuscripts, oral traditions, sacred narratives, material heritage, digital preservation, public religious education, archival practice, historical memory, and community-based stewardship.
5 credits
Advanced study of the responsible interpretation and practice of the Old Norse religious tradition in contemporary religious life. Students examine blót, sumbel, seasonal observance, household devotion, remembrance of ancestors, relationships with landvættir, hospitality, oath and obligation, kindred life, religious leadership, and other expressions of lived religious tradition. Particular attention is given to distinguishing historical evidence from reconstruction, adaptation, theological interpretation, and contemporary religious practice. Students consider how an inherited tradition may be carried forward faithfully and responsibly while remaining honest about the historical limits of the surviving sources.
5 credits
Culminating comprehensive assessment of knowledge and understanding across the Bachelor of Eddic Studies curriculum. The course concludes with a 100-question, closed-book, independently proctored multiple-choice examination covering the four stages of the B.E.S.: Foundations, Understanding, Formation, and Stewardship. Students must earn at least 70% to pass. Up to three attempts are permitted, with a minimum 24-hour waiting period between attempts.
The following courses must be completed through HIES and may not ordinarily be satisfied by transfer credit:
• BES 101
• BES 102
• BES 105
• BES 106
• BES 203
• BES 204
• BES 302
• BES 306
• BES 401
• BES 402
• BES 405
• BES 406
Graduates of the Bachelor of Eddic Studies program are expected to be able to:
• Interpret the Poetic Edda, Prose Edda, saga literature, and related religious sources using historical, textual, linguistic, and theological methods.
• Read introductory Old Norse and work critically with primary texts, manuscripts, translations, and editorial choices relevant to Eddic religious studies.
• Distinguish primary evidence from later interpretation by integrating literary, archaeological, legal, linguistic, and historical sources.
• Explain and interpret Old Norse religion, cosmology, ritual, ethics, sacred social order, and religious history within their historical context.
• Evaluate the historical evidence for Old Norse religious belief and practice with appropriate scholarly caution.
• Communicate sacred narratives and religious teachings effectively through teaching, rhetoric, storytelling, discussion, and the public presentation of primary texts.
• Demonstrate religious leadership shaped by wisdom, honor, responsibility, hospitality, restraint, frith, and service.
• Contribute to the stewardship and preservation of the Old Norse religious tradition through research, teaching, documentation, ministry, and community service.
• Design and deliver educational materials and religious learning experiences for different audiences.
• Demonstrate comprehensive mastery of the B.E.S. curriculum through the HIES closed-book, proctored comprehensive examination.
The Bachelor of Eddic Studies is designed to move students:
from inheritance to understanding,
from understanding to formation,
and from formation to stewardship.
The program begins with the foundational sacred literature and worldview of the Old Norse tradition, develops the linguistic and interpretive skills necessary to understand its sources, applies that learning to character and religious community life, and culminates in teaching, leadership, service, and preservation.
Through sustained study of Eddic literature, saga tradition, Old Norse language, religious history, sacred law, archaeology, ritual, ethics, leadership, and ministry, students are challenged not only to understand the inherited tradition, but also to consider what faithful and responsible stewardship of that inheritance requires.
B.E.S. coursework is evaluated through the assessment methods established for each course, including examinations and designated written assessments. Students must earn a minimum final course grade of 70% and maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative HIES GPA.
BES 406 serves as the comprehensive B.E.S. examination and requires a minimum score of 70%.
Undergraduate admission requirements for the B.E.S. are established in the HIES Admissions policies. Applicants must satisfy the Institute's educational, English-proficiency, technology, and institutional acknowledgment requirements.
• $150 per six-month academic term
• Includes the standard 15-semester-credit-hour course block
• After successfully completing the current 15-credit block, eligible students may elect an additional 15-credit Accelerated Course Block for a $50 administrative charge
• B.E.S. Completion Extension: One 90-day extension may be purchased for a $25 administrative fee. The extension applies only to completion of BES 406. If BES 406 is not completed during the extension, the student must enroll in a new six-month academic term at the regular tuition rate.
• Complete all 120 semester credit hours applicable to the B.E.S.
• Successfully complete all required courses or approved transfer equivalents.
• Complete at least 60 semester credit hours through HIES, including the designated 60-credit HIES Core.
• Earn at least 70% in every successfully completed HIES course.
• Maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative HIES GPA.
• Successfully complete BES 406 — Comprehensive Examination in Eddic Studies.
• Satisfy applicable academic-integrity and institutional requirements.
• Complete the degree within the eight-year maximum completion period, excluding approved leaves.
• Resolve outstanding institutional and financial obligations before degree conferral.
Graduation from the B.E.S. does not require membership in Hákonarætt Fellowship or a local kindred and does not confer Gothi status, ordination, or other religious office.
The Bachelor of Eddic Studies is a program in development.
Hákonarætt Institute of Eddic Studies is not currently accepting applications or enrolling students in the program. Course content, requirements, policies, sequencing, and program structure may be revised before the program becomes available.