Epistemology

e·pis·te·mol·o·gy n. The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity.

The doctrines of Fyrnsidu as it is today are a distillation of the social, spiritual, and ethical teachings of the ancient Anglo-Saxons, as extrapolated by the Sácerdhád from diverse primary sources. These sources include the remaining corpus of Old English and Old Norse literature and gnomic verse, as well as surviving English folk-lore, customs, holiday traditions, moral codes and common law which can be demonstrated or postulated to originate in the Heathen Era. Thus, with regard to the ethical teachings of Fyrnsidu, there is a long and august tradition, stretching into dim antiquity, upon which these teachings are based. This traditional ethic served the heathens of old very well for centuries, evolving over time as the tribes that made up the greater Anglo-Saxon nation migrated and expanded into new lands. The corpus of lore upon which our honor-code of today is based is fairly extensive, if fragmented.

Theology on the other hand is a different matter. Fyrnsidu, like all religions is faced with a number of philosophical problems and intellectual challenges from non-believers with regard to its teachings on the nature of the Gods and divinity. With regard to metaphysical and spiritual matters, Fyrnsidu embraces the practice of mysticism which is to say, the direct experience of the divine or sublime through non-ordinary states of perception. This practice of drawing conclusions of a spiritual nature based upon such direct, non-ordinary experiences of the Divine or “otherworldly” is called a Doxastic Practice, a practice of gaining knowledge or understanding which cannot be established as reliable outside of the practice itself.

With regard to this religious conundrum: it is the official position of the Sácerdhád that the truth claims of any religion, with regard to its doctrines or teachings concerning divinity, can only be justified within the context of a religious tradition. From an purely epistemic standpoint, belief in the Gods cannot be satisfactorily justified without recourse to personal gnosis or religious experiences/revelations as evidence. Therefore, the goal of epistemology within the tradition of Fyrnsidu cannot be to prove the truth of our religious doctrines, but rather to understand them. So long as these doctrines continue to advance the stated goals of the tradition, then their veracity need not be challenged from an epistemic standpoint, as the existence of the Gods and wights of Fyrnsidu cannot be demonstrated with absolute certainty except from a position of faith.