The Unitarian Church Society of Western Icelanders, which was founded at the beginning of the 19th century, had no publication for a long time. It was Rögnvaldur Pétursson, who founded Heimir in 1904 and it was a monthly magazine. He was its editor for a long time and it was published for a total of 9 years. In the first issue, the purpose of the publication is explained as follows:
“What aroused the supporters of this society by establishing this publication was the fact that everyone knows that no matter how many newspapers have been created among us Icelanders, there is still not a single one of them has put religious issues on the agenda in the sense of discussing them impartially and trying to educate people in that regard rather than delaying their investigation. But it is an issue that should receive more attention from us. ….It is true that in the literature of each nation, its spiritual life is revealed, but if the religious writings are excluded, then, first of all, a large part of the literature is overlooked, and secondly, a large part of it which would be left ignored because it is so closely connected to the religious ideals of those who wrote. The publishers therefore intend to take religious matters into consideration in this publication, to study them as far as the circumstances allow, and to strive rather to explain them than to pass any judgment on them, but rather to let people judge them for themselves. ….Since religion is inseparable from other issues, the publishers have also thought of having this publication carry informative and entertaining articles on various issues. …”
Below is the table of contents of Heimir, issue 1, volume 3.
You can see that Sigtryggur Ágústsson’s translation of “Júdas” by Georg Brandes can be found on pages 12-18. Below is a picture from the translation.
English version by Thor group.