A monk. Of course. At least the former part was promising. Not that Richard had anything against monks, at least the ones that weren't trying to use him to supposedly bring about the end of the world as they knew it. As for the rest, well, Vikings, as the term was used, didn't exactly exist anymore, unless he was being sarcastic or attempting to be amusing. This man seemed less than likely to do either of those things though.

What mattered at the moment, was explaining how a Ph.D. worked. Not something he had expected ever to have to do. To be fair, Athelstan wasn't entirely wrong. In some degree, religion was sick. There were too many people fighting over the stupid notion that their specific religion was the right one, rather than combining the best aspects to form a moral understanding of how man should behave. Too many people believed in a divine power that would save or harm them; that had ultimate control over their and other people's lives instead of taking responsibility for their strengths and weaknesses or trying to understand those in others. "It's, similar to being an expert in those fields."

Still, what the man said had stuck with him, and he had to ask. "What caused you to stop being a monk?"