Mowinckel, Sigmund Olaf Plytt

(1884–1965)

   Biblical Scholar and Theologian.

   Mowinckel was born in Kjernrigøy, Norway, and was educated at the Universities of Oslo, Copenhagen, Marburg and Giessen. Subsequently he was appointed to teach at the University of Oslo, where he remained for his whole career. Among his works were books on the Psalms, on the Messiah, on Ezra and Nehemiah and on the problem of the Hexateuch. He is mainly remembered for his thesis that the liturgical psalms were regularly used at an annual pre-exilic festival, in which the enthronement of God was ritually celebrated. The themes of the festival were later incorporated into the post-exilic hope of the Messiah. His work has been highly influential in the field of Old Testament studies.

   S. Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 2 vols (1962);

   D.R. Ap-Thomas, ‘An appreciation of Sigmund Mowinckel’s contribution to biblical studies’, Journal of Biblical Literature, lxxxv (1966).