Ruth Illman

Curriculum Vitae (1/2021)

List of Publications (1/2021)

Current position

Director, the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History, Turku, Finland (start: June 2013). Leading the work at the institute, including research and library facilities, own research, arranging of conferences and networks, granting scholarships, academic publishing: www.donnerinstitute.fi/en

My main research interests concern contemporary Judaism, interreligious dialogue and ethnographic research methodology within the humanities. I am especially interested in the relationship between the arts (particularly music) and religion. Chronologically, I work predominantly with contemporary religion, combining ethnographic research methods with content analysis and approaches deriving from the philosophy of religion.

Since 2016, I have been editor of the scholarly journal Nordisk judaistik / Scandinavian Jewish Studies, currently together with Dr. Svante Lundgren, Lund University.

I am also the director of the research project Boundaries of Jewish Identities in Contemporary Finland finansed by the Polin Institute.

Education 

• Docent (Associate Professor), History of Religions, Uppsala University (29.5 2018). 
• Docent (Associate Professor), Study of Religions, Åbo Akademi University (11.8 2006).

• Doctor of Theology, Åbo Akademi University (30.11 2018). Jewish studies
• Doctor of Philosophy, Åbo Akademi University (18.6 2004). Study of Religions
• Master of Theology, Åbo Akademi University (31.5 2015). Jewish studies
• Master of Arts, Åbo Akademi University (12.5 2000). Study of Religions

• Information Studies (60 credits), Åbo Akademi University (qualification for librarian), 2012.