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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.

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Louis Markos, Houston Baptist University

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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.

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Janet Brennan Croft, University of Northern Iowa, editor of Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C