Professor Martti Nissinen

Professor of Old Testament Studies, University of Helsinki

Professor Nissinen worked first as Assistant Professor of Old Testament Studies at the University of Helsinki from 1985-94, when he also served as translator of the Finnish Bible Translation Commission. Between 1994-2002 he was a Research Fellow of the Academy of Finland, and from 2002-07, Professor of Bible and the Ancient Near East, University of Helsinki. From 2007 he has been Professor of Old Testament Studies at Helsinki. From 2014-19 he was leader of the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence “Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions” (www.cstt.fi) and has served as the President of the Foundation for the Finnish Institute in the Middle East (2010–21). He is member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. In 2026 the Research Council of Finland granted four years of funding for a research project entitled ‘Prophecy, Body, and Society in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam’ which will employ three postdoctoral graduates.

Select publications

Nissinen, M., Prophetic Divination: Essays in Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy, BZAW 494 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019).
Nissinen, M., Seow, C.-L., Ritner, R.K., and Melchert, H.C. (eds.), Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East, SBLWAW 41 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2019).
Nissinen, M., ‘Non-Male Prophets in Ancient Near Eastern Sources’, in I.Fischer and J. Claassens (eds.), Prophecy and Gender in the Hebrew Bible, The Bible and Women 1.2 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2021: 75–109).
Nissinen, M., ‘Peace and Peacemaking in the Hebrew Bible’, in G. B. Lanfranchi, S. Ponchia, and R. Rollinger (eds.), Making Peace in the Ancient World: Proceedings of the 7^th Melammu Workshop, Padova, 5–7 November 2018, Melammu Workshops and Monographs 5 (Münster: Zaphon Verlag, 2022:201–217).
Nissinen, M. and Jutta Jokiranta (eds.), Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions: Methodological Encounters and Debates, SBL Resources for Biblical Study 106 (Atlanta: SBL Press 2024). In this publication co-authored, with Jutta Jokiranta, ‘Scholarly Community at Work: What Have We Learned?’ (pp. 1-20), and, with Dalit Rom-Shiloni, ‘Methodological Challenges in the Study of Prophecy and Prophetic Books: A Conversation’ (pp. 103-54).
Nissinen, M., ‘Homo-Sodoman synty ja huoli miehuudesta’ / Homosexualizing Sodom and the Concern for Masculinity, in Teologinen Aikakauskirja 129 (2024) 122–139.
Nissinen, M., ‘Male Desire in Akkadian and Hebrew Love Poetry‘, in Trinkt von dem Wein, den ich gemischt habe!/ Drink of the Wine which I have Mingled: Festschrift für Silvia Schroer zum 65. Geburtstag, eds. Stefan Münger, Nancy Rahn, and Patrick Wyssmann, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 303 (Leuven: Peeters 2023: 362–380).
Nissinen, M., ‘Male Action in Akkadian and Hebrew Love Poetry’, in Deciphering Assyria: A Tribute to Simo Parpola on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday, eds. Raija Mattila, Robert Rollinger, and Sebastian Fink, Melammu Workshops and Monographs 9 (Münster: Zaphon Verlag 2023: 299–316).
Nissinen, M., ‘Female Voices in Akkadian Love Poetry’, in Reading the Song of Songs in a #MeToo Era, eds. Elaine T. James and Simeon B. Chavel, Biblical Interpretation Series 212 ( Leiden: Brill 2023: 135–162).
Nissinen, M., ‘Ezekiel, Ethnicity, and Identity’ in Studia Orientalia Electronica Special Issue: Mesopotamian Identities in the Last Centuries of Cuneiform Writing, eds. Sebastian Fink and Saana Svärd, Studia Orientalia Electronica 11 (2023) 53–71.
Nissinen, M., Marko Marttila, and Jutta Jokiranta (eds.), Strategies for Responding to Catastrophe: Examples from Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature. Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook 2024/2025. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2025.
Nissinen, M., ‘Ištar’s Sexual Agency in Akkadian Love Literature,’ in Stephanie Lynn Budin and Caroline J. Tully (eds.), A Century of James Frazer’s The Golden Bough: Shaking the Tree, Breaking the Bough. Abingdon: Routledge 2025. Pp. 81–98.
Nissinen, M., ‘Prophetic Bodies in the Ancient Near East,’ in Anathea Portier-Young, The Prophetic Body: Embodiment and Mediation in Biblical Prophetic Literature. – Ancient Jew Review 2.9.2025 (https://www.ancientjewreview.com/read/2025/8/21/prophetic-bodies-in-the-ancient-near-east).