Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson

Jón Hnefill was born in Hrafnkelsdalur in East Iceland, where his father farmed;[1][2] in 2000 he published a book arguing that Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða, which takes place in the valley, contains more historical truth about heathen religious practice derived from oral tradition than has been generally thought since Sigurður Nordal's 1940 book Hrafnkatla.

[4] He also worked as a journalist for the newspaper Morgunblaðið[6] and taught at a variety of Icelandic schools and institutions of higher education, including in the divisions of philosophy, social science, and theology at the University of Iceland[2] and from 1969 to 1988 at Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð.

[9] His scholarly work focussed on the area of Old Norse religion, particularly in Iceland, drawing on both philology and folkloristics.

His PhD thesis, published in English as Under the Cloak, concerned the role of shamanic trance in the decision taken in 2000 that Iceland would convert to Christianity, and a number of his articles on Old Norse religion were collected in English translation as A Piece of Horse Liver.

Among his books were: He was married in 1955 to the writer and Member of Alþingi Svava Jakobsdóttir, who died in 2004; they had one son, Jakob S. Jónsson, a director and playwright.