While many modern scholars have dismissed the existence of the dying and rising god archetype in the religions of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, others have used the archetype to reduce the crucified and resurrected Christ to a derivative myth with little historical value. Paul Rovang first amasses decisive evidence for the ubiquity of the archetype and then argues, along with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, that Christ, far from a Hebrew version of the archetype, was the myth that became fact. This is a well-researched and carefully-argued book that sets the record straight on the nature and implications of Frazer’s dying and rising god.

Louis Markos, Houston Christian University; author of Tolkien for Beginners and On the Shoulders of Hobbits

A fresh and revitalizing contribution to the interpretation of world mythology and mythopoeic literature. The impressively multicultural collection of “dying and rising god” (and, importantly, “goddess”) stories here examined particularly lends itself to Rovang’s skilled application of Jungian psychology and archetypal criticism, among other approaches. An illuminating and enjoyable read for anyone interested in the characteristics of the “dying and rising god” myth, its usefulness in literary and cultural interpretation, and what it means to us as humans on our shared journey.

Janet Brennan Croft, University of Northern Iowa, editor of Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This book should be of great interest to scholars and general readers of mythology, world religion, and narratology. Like any other academic discipline, the study of mythology has its own history that has followed tends and patterns and sometimes has had periods which produced questionable scholarship that needs to be corrected or refuted. Undoubtedly, scholars of the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, in fields from literary studies to anthropology, often saw world cultures from a Western point of view. While this caused scholars in some instances to overlook the nuances and uniqueness of mythological traditions from other cultures, Smith’s assertion that there never was a dying
and rising god archetype goes too far in taking a postmodern stance that there is no connection between human mythologies. Rovang’s book demonstrates that this archetype is a significant cross-cultural phenomenon, and that its study is worthwhile. Hopefully, this work will help to swing the pendulum back towards the view of this archetype as a central component of comparative mythology.

Mythlore