Sigmund Mowinckel Explained

Sigmund Olaf Plytt Mowinckel
Birth Date:1884 8, df=y
Birth Place:Kjerringøy, Nordland, Norway
Death Place:Oslo
Education:University of Oslo
Reverend Doctor

Sigmund Olaf Plytt Mowinckel (4 August 1884  - 4 June 1965) was a Norwegian professor, theologian and biblical scholar. He was noted for his research into the practice of religious worship in ancient Israel.[1]

Life

Mowinckel was born at Kjerringøy in 1884[2] and was educated at the University of Oslo (1908; Th.D. 1916).[3] His early research interests were study of the Old Testament and Assyriology.[2] In the years 1911-13 he made study trips to Copenhagen, Marburg and Giessen.[2] At Giessen he came into contact with Hermann Gunkel and was inspired by Gunkel's understanding of the Old Testament as literature, as well as his traditio-historical method.[2]

In 1916 he published his doctoral thesis on the prophet Nehemiah, and a companion work on the prophet Ezra.[2] In the years 1921-24 he published Psalmenstudien, maybe his most influential work.[2] As an Old Testament scholar he was particularly interested in the Psalms and the ancient cult of Israel. [2] According to Clements,[4] "Mowinckel continually developed and revised his views, notably on Israelite kingship and Psalmody".In 1956 he published "He That Cometh: The Messiah Concept in the Old Testament and Later Judaism".[5] [6] For most of his professional life Mowinckel was connected to the University of Oslo and continued to lecture there as an emeritus in the 1960's.[2] Among his students we find the norwegian biblical scholar Arvid Kapelrud.[2] His last book in english, "Religion and Cult", was published in 1981.[7]

Academic work and theories

Mowinckels main contribution to biblical scholarship is his work on The Psalms of the Old Testament and his study of Messianic ideas in Judaism.

The Psalms

From the 1920s, Mowinckel headed a school of thought concerning the Book of Psalms which sometimes clashed with the Form criticism conclusions of Hermann Gunkel and those who followed in Gunkel's footsteps. In broad terms, Gunkel strongly advocated a view of the Psalms which focused on the two notable names for God occurring therein: Yahweh (JHWH sometimes called tetragrammaton) and Elohim. The schools of Psalm writing springing therefrom were termed Yahwist and Elohist. Mowinckel's approach to the Psalms differed quite a bit from Gunkel's. Mowinckel explained the Psalms as wholly cultic, both in origin and in intention. He attempted to relate more than 40 psalms to a hypothetical New Year autumn festival,[8] [9] the so-called "Enthronement Festival of Yahweh".[10] According to Mowinckel the Psalms had a practical usage in the context of the Temple service.[11] He also suggests that the authors of the Psalms were temple singers.[12] As for the Psalms that have no cultic context, Mowinckel identifies these as the "wisdom psalms".[12]

Messianic ideas

In addition to his work on Psalms, his major monograph on the Old Testament roots of Messianism is of significance in scholarship until this day.[13] In his study of Messianism in ancient Israel, and the Ancient Near East, Mowinckel identified the concept of divine kingship.[14] He did however deny the title of Messiah to the reigning Hebrew kings, although they reflected the Messianic ideal.[15] The kings were associated with divinity, but Mowinckel does not support the view that they were an incarnation of the deity, or that they represented a suffering, dying and rising god.[15] The Israelites adapted some ideas on kingship from Canaanite sources, combined with traditions of old nomadic chieftainship and Yahwism.[16] According to Mowinckel the concept of Kingship is associated with the present, while the Messiah is a future being,[16] associated with eschatology.[17] The Hebrew royal line is therefore, in his view, not Messianic,[17] and there is no eschatology prior to the Babylonian exile.[17]

Mowinckel also considers the songs of the Suffering Servant in the Old Testament. Mowinckel accepts the common understanding of the servant songs, according to tradition, as signifying atonement and vicarious suffering. [17] He identifies the servant as a historical character from the circle surrounding Isaiah and Second Isaiah.[14] However, he does not rule out that the servant could be a future character.[17] [14] He finds the servant free of kingly traits [15] and concludes that the songs were not originally meant to be Messianic. [16] The suffering servant is therefore, according to Mowinckel, something else than a Messiah, he is a «mediator of salvation»[17]

The Son of Man, on the other hand, is an eschatological figure,[17] influenced by Messianic ideas.[15] According to Ceroke[17] «The Son of Man is in Mowinckel’s treatment the culmination of messianism». However, Mowinckel disagrees with other scholars, such as Joachim Jeremias, that the Son of Man represents an atoning suffering and death.[17] Martin[16] notes that Mowinckels approach to the subject is historical, not theological or doctrinal. As a consequence of this Martin finds that Mowinckels handling of the subject is a bit incomplete in light of the entire message of Jesus and his (Jesus') use of the term Son of Man.

Mowinckel suggests that Jesus adapted both the concept of the Son of Man and the figure of the Servant, but in a paradoxical way.[16] The concept of the Messiah is modified in order to suit his ministry and his understanding of himself. He merges the redeeming element of the Son of Man with the idea of the suffering Servant. [16] [17] According to Muilenburg[14] «Mowinckel believes that Jesus himself was the first to understand the real meaning of Isaiah 53 and to apply it to himself». Despite expressing criticism toward several aspects of Mowinckels work on this subject, several reviewers [15] [16] [17] found his treatment of Messianic ideas to be a solid contribution to Old Testament Scholarship.

Published works (early editions)

NOTE [*]: SNVAO signifies the Norwegian publisher/publications Skrifter utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, II. Hist.-Filos. Klasse

NOTE [**] ANVAO signifies the Norwegian publisher/publications Avhandliger utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo. II. Hist. Filos. Klasse.

Articles by Mowinckel

Other sources

Related Reading

Notes and References

  1. http://store.augsburgfortress.org/store/contributor/4026/Sigmund-Mowinckel Sigmund Mowinckel (Augsburg Fortress)
  2. Sæbø, M. Crossing Borders: On Five Norwegian Bible Scholars, In Lemaire, A. & Sæbø, M.(Editors)(1998) Congress Volume Oslo 1998. Leiden: Brill
  3. https://snl.no/Sigmund_Mowinckel Sigmund Mowinckel (Store norske leksikon)
  4. Clements . R. E. . Review of Sigmund Mowinckel und seine Zeit: Leben und Werk eines norwegischen Alttestamentlers . Vetus Testamentum . 2008 . 58 . 2 . 275–276 . 20504369 .
  5. Tomes . R. . SIGMUND MOWINCKEL, He That Cometh: The Messiah Concept in the Old Testament and Later Judaism. . Journal of Semitic Studies . 1 January 2007 . 52 . 2 . 429–430 . 10.1093/jss/fgm034 .
  6. Rollston . Christopher A. . Review of He That Cometh: The Messiah Concept in the Old Testament and Later Judaism . Journal of Near Eastern Studies . 2009 . 68 . 1 . 54–55 . 10.1086/598075 . 10.1086/598075 .
  7. Stansell . Gary . Review of The Spirit and the Word: Prophecy and Tradition in Ancient Israel . Journal of Biblical Literature . 2004 . 123 . 1 . 145–147 . 10.2307/3268555 . 3268555 .
  8. https://nbl.snl.no/Sigmund_Mowinckel Sigurd Hjelde: Sigmund Mowinckel, Teolog (Norsk biografisk leksikon)
  9. http://thetorah.com/psalm-of-the-shofar/ Alan Cooper The Psalm of the Shofar Its Use in Liturgy and its Meaning in the Bible (Project Torah And Biblical Scholarship)
  10. Dahood . M. . Review of The Psalms in Israel's Worship. Vol. I. Vol. II . Biblica . 1964 . 45 . 1 . 109–111 . 42651128 .
  11. Moriarty . Frederick L. . Review of The Psalms in Israel's Worship. Vol. I: vol. II . Gregorianum . 1964 . 45 . 3 . 551–553 . 23573410 .
  12. Murphy . Roland E. . Review of The Psalms in Israel's Worship. Vol. I and II . The Catholic Biblical Quarterly . 1963 . 25 . 4 . 481–482 . 43711338 .
  13. He That Cometh: The Messiah Concept in the Old Testament and Later Judaism, trans. G. W. Anderson (Oxford: B.Blackwell, 1956)
  14. Muilenburg . James . Review of He That Cometh . Journal of Biblical Literature . 1957 . 76 . 3 . 243–246 . 10.2307/3261576 . 3261576 .
  15. Anderson . G. W. . Review of Han som kommer. Messiasforventningen i Det Gamle Testament og på Jesu tid . Vetus Testamentum . 1951 . 1 . 4 . 311–313 . 10.2307/1516312 . 1516312 .
  16. Martin . M. . Review of He that Cometh . Biblica . 1959 . 40 . 4 . 1029–1033 . 42640742 .
  17. Ceroke . Christian P. . Review of He That Cometh . The Catholic Biblical Quarterly . 1957 . 19 . 2 . 274–278 . 43710403 .

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