Tryggve Mettinger's much-praised work analyzes the major names for God in the Old Testament to trace, through the many confrontations and challenges of individuals and groups that mark Israel's story, the historical development of Israel's conception of God.

In Search of God: The Meaning and Message of the Everlasting Names (English and Swedish Edition)

Mettinger, Tryggve N. D.

Religion & Spirituality

Fortress Press

In a book marked by unusually readable yet academic style, Mettinger transforms our knowledge of the story of Eden in Genesis. He shows us a story focused on a divine test of human obedience, with human disobedience and its consequences as its main theme. Both of the special trees in Eden had a function: the tree of knowledge as the test case, and the tree of life as the potential reward for obedience. Mettinger adopts a two-tiered approach. In a synchronic move, he understakes a literary analysis that yields striking observations on narratology, theme, and genre in the text studied. He defines the genre as myth and subjects the narrative to a functional analysis. He then applies a diachronic approach and presents a tradition-historical reconstruction of an Adamic myth in Ezekiel 28. The presence of both wisdom and immortality in this myth leads to a discussion of these divine prerogatives in Mesopotamian literature (remember Adapa and Gilgamesh). The two prerogatives demarcated an ontological boundary between the divine and human spheres. Nevertheless, the Eden Narrative does not evaluate the human desire to obtain knowledge or wisdom negatively. A piece of fresh, original scholarship in accessible form, this book is ideal for courses on creation, primeval history, the Bible and literature, and the Bible and the ancient Near East.

The Eden Narrative: A Literary and Religio-Historical Study of Genesis 2–3

History

Ancient Civilizations

Eisenbrauns

Tryggve N. D. Mettinger, emeritus professor of Hebrew Bible at Lund University, has long been one of the best known and most admired voices in biblical studies. His eight (English-language) books and countless articles, published in a career spanning over four decades, have changed the field in many ways. Mettinger is renowned not as an iconoclast, but as one working within mainstream scholarship who is nevertheless willing to challenge cherished ideas and who takes nothing for granted. For example, in one of his earliest works, A Farewell to the Servant Songs—published in its entirety in this volume—Mettinger, with his trademark brevity and articulation, drew attention to the shaky ground on which this consensus idea was built and called fellow scholars to reexamine this notion taken for granted by so many for so long. For Mettinger, the Bible is sacred literature, but in biblical interpretation there are no sacred cows.
Reports from a Scholar’s Life: Select Papers on the Hebrew Bible collects 16 studies (one short monograph, twelve articles, and three reviews), originally published between 1977 and 2008, into one volume, along with a new reflective essay. The papers included provide not only Mettinger’s most groundbreaking publications, but also glimpses into several of the areas of study that occupied the author. Mettinger’s work ranged far and wide in the Hebrew Bible, and here one finds examples of his contributions to the study of, among other things:
• the notions of God, the Gottesbild, in ancient Israel ;
<li>the theology of “YHWH Sabaoth” in the monarchic period ;• the development of the story of David in 1–2 Samuel;
• aniconism in ancient Israel;
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<li>the motif of the “dying and rising god” in the ancient world ;• narrative criticism of the book of Job;• the development and structure of Second Isaiah
The entire volume is opened by the titular essay, published for the first time here, “Report from a Scholar’s Life.” This article was originally delivered as the farewell address upon his retirement from Lund University, and it provides a retrospective on his entire life and career.
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Reports from a Scholar's Life: Select Papers on the Hebrew Bible

This is the first in-depth study of the Israelite prohibition of images in the light of comparative material from the surrounding cultures. The author proposes a distinction between tolerant de facto aniconism and programmatic aniconism and argues that there was a development from West Semitic de facto aniconism (cults focussed on aniconic stelae) to programmatic aniconism (Israelite iconoclasm and the prohibition in the decalogue). Aniconism as such is found to be a conventional practice in several West Semitic cultures; the development into programmatic aniconism is, however, an Israelite phenomenon.There were two main forms of aniconism in the ancient Near East: material aniconism (aniconic symbols such as stelae, masseboth) and empty-space aniconism (empty thrones). Various cultures in the ancient Near East yield important comparative material. The emphasis is on West Semitic cults with open-air cult places (high places, bamoth), which had sacrificial slaughter and a sacral meal shared by the participants and their god (represented by an aniconic stele), in contrast with Mesopotamian temples, with the care and feeding of the gods (represented by a cultic image). The author deals with the following cultural areas: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia, the Nabatean domain, and Palestine.

No Graven Image?: Israelite Aniconism in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context (Coniectanea Biblica Old Testament Series)

“Dying and Rising Gods”—a detailed critique of the scholarly consensus! Tammuz, Osiris, Baal, and Adonis are well-known from J.G. Frazer’s Golden Bough. These gods have been a hotly debated issue for a whole century. During the 1990’s, a consensus developed to the effect that the “dying and rising gods” died but did not return or rise to new life. In the first monograph on the whole issue subsequent to the studies by Frazer and Baudissin, professor Tryggve N.D. Mettinger offers a detailed critique of this position. The work is based on a fresh perusal of the source material from the ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman world, and Egypt. It profits from new finds of great importance. Modern theory in comparative religion and anthropology on the nature of rite and myth informs the discussion. The author concludes that Dumuzi, Baal, and Melqart were dying and rising gods already in pre-Christian times and that Adonis and Eshmun may well have been so too. After his magisterial presentation of the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean material, the author provides some succinct notes on the resurrection of Jesus in the light of his findings.
The author, Tryggve N.D. Mettinger, is professor of Hebrew Bible at Lund University, Sweden, and a member of the Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, Stockholm.

The Riddle of Resurrection: "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East (Coniectanea Biblica Old Testament Series)

An important book about a remarkable phenomenon. This is the first in-depth study of Israelite aniconism in the light of comparative material from the ancient Near East. In an introductory chapter Dr. Mettinger introduces a distinction between de facto aniconism and programmatic prohibition of images. He then goes on to demonstrate that de facto aniconism was a conventional practice in several West Semitic cultures. Finally, he sketches the development from West Semitic aniconism (with aniconic stelae as symbols of the divine) to Israelite iconoclasm.

No Graven Image?: Israelite Aniconism in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context (Coniectanea Biblica, Old Testament Ser. , No 42)

Christian Books & Bibles

Coronet Books Inc.

This book presents a reconsideration of a classical problem in the religions of the biblical world. Ever since the publication of The Golden Bough by J.G. Frazer, "dying and rising gods" has been a disputed issue. According to the consensus opinion, these gods die but do not rise to new life. The author challenges the majority with his presentation and perusal of all the important sources, including new, significant evidence.

Riddle of Resurrection: Dying and Rising Gods in the Ancient Near East (Coniectanea Biblica, Old Testament, 50)

World

Almqvist & Wiksell International

Physical description; 158 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm. Notes; Bibliography: p. 136-147. Includes indexes. Subject; Bible. Old Testament - Criticism, interpretation, etc.

The dethronement of Sabaoth: Studies in the Shem and Kabod theologies (Coniectanea biblica)

CWK Gleerup

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