• Indigenous Sami Religion (source criticism, religious change and continuity, rites de passage, concepts of person, bear rituals)
• Sami linguistics (South Sami, Lule Sami, North Sami; language variation, personal names and place names, history of the Sami language)
• Religions in the Circumpolar Area (concepts of person, comparison as method)
• Jewish and Islamic Philosophies of Religion in 12th century Andalusia
• Classical Indian Philosophy of Language (Pāṇini)
• Religion and Aesthetics

Håkan Rydving (b. 1953) is a Swedish linguist and historian of religions, educated at Uppsala University. Since 1995 he has been Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Bergen. As a dedicated academic teacher he prioritizes supervision and finds it important as a professor to give courses for students on advanced as well as on beginners’ level.

In his research he in particular focuses on epistemological issues like problems of conceptualisation in addition to themes like variation and change, source criticism, and the practicability of different approaches as research tools. He emphasises the necessity of a good knowledge of relevant languages for any serious study of cultures and religions.

His main research interests lie in northern indigenous cultures, and especially in Sami linguistics and in the history of Sami religious traditions, but at present he has also taken up his old interests in Islamic and Jewish philosophies and in the Sanskrit grammar of Pāṇini. Rydving has been a visiting professor and lectured at universities and research institutes in Czechia, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and the U.K., in addition to in the Nordic countries, where he is also a fellow of several academies and learned societies:

The Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura), 2020–

The Royal Society of Arts and Sciences of Uppsala (Academia Regia Scientiarum Upsaliensis), 2013–

The Academy of the Royal Norwegian Society of Science and Letters (Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskabs Akademi), 2012–

The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters (Societas Scientiarum Fennica), 2012–

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi), 2009–

The Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy (Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien), Sweden, 2006–

Festschriften (65th anniversary)

Dīn: tidsskrift for religion og kultur 2018: 1 – Islam og politikk (ed. by Ulrika Mårtensson & Mona Helen Farstad). 183 pp. URL http://ojs.novus.no/index.php/DIN/issue/view/189

Dīn: tidsskrift for religion og kultur 2018: 2 – Openheit / Rabasvuohta (ed. by Hans Geir Aasmundsen, Jelena Porsanger & Bjørn Ola Tafjord). 167 pp. URL http://ojs.novus.no/index.php/DIN/issue/view/190

Journal of Northern Studies 12: 1 (2018) (ed. by Lars-Erik Edlund & Olle Sundström). 129 pp. URL http://www.jns.org.umu.se/JNS_1_2018_fulltext.pdf

Temenos: Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion 54: 1 (2018) (ed. by Stefan Olsson). 117 pp. URL https://journal.fi/temenos/issue/view/5194

University of Bergen, History of Religions (1993, 1995–2024)

Example of courses:

• Sami Religion
• Sami and Old Norse Religion
• Judaism (introduction)
• Islam (introduction)
• Theory in the History of Religions
• World Philosophies (together with K.A. Jacobsen & R. Kristiansen)
• Religion and Politics
• Religion and Art
• Religion and Music
• Religion in World Literatures

Örebro University College, Swedish (1987–94)

Course:

• Swedish for Immigrant Education

Umeå University, History of Religions (1983–84, 1986–87)

Example of courses:

• Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam (introduction)

Uppsala University, Finno-Ugric Languages (Sami) (1983–94)

Example of courses:

• Lule Sami
• North Sami
• South Sami
• Sami dialectology

Uppsala University, History of Religions (1977–89)

Example of courses:

• Old Norse Religion
• Sami Religion
• Islam
• Anthropology of religions
• Jerusalem (with excursion)
• The Lule Sami Area (with excursion)

Words and Varieties: Lexical Variation in Saami (Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 269), Helsinki 2013: Finno-Ugrian Society. URL http://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust269/sust269.pdf

Perspectivas del norte: cinco textos sobre la lengua y la cultura de los samis (Antropológica 21), eds. R. Martínez & V. Koričančić, México D.F. 2012: Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Tracing Sami Traditions: In Search of the Indigenous Religion among the Western Sami during the 17th and 18th Centuries (Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning, Serie B, Skrifter 135), Oslo 2010: Novus forlag.

The End of Drum-Time: Religious Change among the Lule Saami, 1670s–1740s (Historia Religionum 12), Stockholm 1993: Almqvist & Wiksell International. 2nd ed. 1995, 3rd ed. 2004.

Le chamanisme aujourd’hui : constructions et déconstructions d’une illusion scientifique, Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines 42, Paris 2011. URL http://emscat.revues.org/index1815.html

A western folk category in mind? [A critique of the cognitive science of religion], Temenos: Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion 44,1: 73–99, Helsinki 2008. URL http://ojs.tsv.fi/index.php/temenos/article/view/4599/6790

Rettleidde doktorgradsavhandlingar

Konsta Kaikkonen (Universitetet i Bergen), Contextualising Descriptions of Noaidevuohta: Saami Ritual Specialists in Texts Written until 1871, 2020 (rettleiar)

Stefan Olsson (Universitetet i Bergen), Gísl: givande och tagande av gisslan som rituell handling i fredsprocesser under vikingatid och tidig medeltid, 2016 (hovudrettleiar)

Mona Farstad (Universitetet i Bergen), Chaste, Chosen, and Purified: An Analysis of the Qur’ānic Narratives about Maryam, 2012 (hovudrettleiar).

Rolf Christoffersson (Uppsala universitet), Med tre röster och tusende bilder: om den samiska trumman, 2010 (hovudrettleiar). Rolf (1935–2021) gjekk bort den 7. november 2021. Ved sidan av eit yrkesliv med pleie av alkoholmisbrukarar, studerte han religionshistorie ved Uppsala universitet. Som pensjonær held han fram med studia, spesialiserte seg på dei samiske trommene, blei den fremste eksperten på dei, og underviste om samisk religion ved Uppsala universitet. R.I.P.

Olle Sundström (Umeå universitet), ”Vildrenen är själv detsamma som en gud”: ”gudar” och ”andar” i sovjetiska etnografers beskrivningar av samojediska världsåskådningar, 2009 (rettleiar).

Gerd Marie Ådna (Universitetet i Bergen), “O, Son of the Two Sacrifices”: Muḥammad and the Formation of Sacrifice in Early Islam, 2007 (rettleiar med  prof. E. Thomassen)

Torsten Hylen (Uppsala universitet), Ḥusayn, the Mediator: A Structural Analysis of the Karbalā’ Drama according to Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 923), 2007 (medrettleiar).

Jelena Porsanger (Universitetet i Tromsø), “Bassejoga čáhci”: gáldut nuortasámiid eamioskkoldaga birra álgoálbmotmetodologiijaid olis, 2006 (rettleiar).

Roar Fotland (Universitetet i Bergen), Ancestor Christology in Context: Theological Perspectives of Kwame Bediako, 2005 (rettleiar).

Bjørn Ola Tafjord (Universitetet i Bergen), Ritualiserte forståingar: bribriar og bahá’i-trua, 2004 (rettleiar).

Ulrika Mårtensson (Uppsala universitet), The True New Testament: Sealing the Heart’s Covenant in al-Tabarî’s Ta’rîkh al-Rusul wa’l-Mulûk, 2001 (ekstern rettleiar).

Mette Ramstad (Universitetet i Bergen), Conversion in the Pacific: Eastern Polynesian Latter-Day Saints’ Conversion Accounts and their Development of a LDS Identity, 2001 (hovudrettleiar).

George Charles (Kanaqlak) (University of California, Santa Barbara), Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being in Contemporary Yup’ik Thought, 2000 (ekstern rettleiar). Kanaqlak (1941–2020) gjekk bort den 8. september 2020. Innan pensjoneringa hadde han vore både leiar for National Resource Center for American Indian, Alaska Native & Native Hawaiian Elders, University of Alaska, Anchorage, og 1. aman. i urfolksstudiar ved University of Alaska, Fairbanks. R.I.P.

Rettleidde hovudfagsoppgåver og mastergradsoppgåver, religionsvitskap, Universitetet i Bergen, 1995–2023

Vilde Mørch Hobæk, «Du barn skal have den samme lykke og glæde, som den Jamikas havde i verden»: gjenfødsel gjennom navngivning i tradisjonell samisk religion, 2023 (assisterende rettleiar)

Malin Skeie, Kristendom og islam i Religion og etikk: en kvalitativ undersøkelse av læreres didaktiske valg, og elevers opplevelser av undervisning om kristendom og islam i faget Religion og etikk, 2023 (rettleiar)

Målfrid Bårdsnes, Kunnskapsguden Odin: en epistemologisk analyse, 2023 (rettleiar)

Tomas M. Mittet, Jesus Kristus på samlebandet […]. En kvalitativ studie av funksjonen til den masseproduserte og standardiserte kirkekunsten til Jesu Kristi Kirke av De Siste Dagers Hellige på Fantoft, 2020 (rettleiar).

Victoria Dahl, Messianske jøder i Israel i et identitetsperspektiv: en kvalitativ analyse ved hjelp av identitetsprosessteori, 2020 (supervisor)

Helle Braae, Eleoúsa-motivet i den ortodokse kirke, 2018 (rettleiar).

Åsfrid Persson, Religiøst lederskap og autoritet i en kjønnet diskurs: forståelse av kvinnelig religiøs autoritet blant muslimer i Oslo, 2018 (rettleiar).

Camilla Fjeldstad, The Many Faces of Shinto, 2016 (rettleiar).

Petter Johnstad, Entheogenic Spirituality: Conversations with Psychonauts, 2016 (rettleiar).

Maren Bjotveit, Midtøsten som region og maktkampen mellom Saudi-Arabia og Iran: en studie av stortingspolitikeres oppfatninger, 2015 (rettleiar).

Daniel Fitjar, Balancing the World: Contemporary Maya ajq’ijab in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, 2013 (hovudrettleiar).

Christina Elmar, Introduksjonsprogrammet fra et muslimsk deltagerperspektiv, 2012 (rettleiar).

Vegard Kvernenes, Den notidige feiringa av av mawlid an-nabi i Manchester og London, 2012 (hovudrettleiar).

Eyvind Bøe, Når det er farlig å fortelle: identitet blant armenere i Jerusalem, 2010 (rettleiar). 

Elisabeth V. Moe, Sáráhkká og Jomfru Maria, 2009 (rettleiar). 

Kristian Kvalvåg, De Siste Dagers Hellige, Mitt Romney, og Den amerikanske religion, 2009 (rettleiar med prof. D.Ø. Endsjø). 

Bjørn Hagen, Orishatro i en ny verden: santería i USA, 2007 (rettleiar).

Annette Christine Svae, Oppviglerbarna aluxo’ob: beskyttervinder for mais og tilgrodde pyramider i yukatekmayaenes bønner og muntlige fortellinger, 2006 (rettleiar). 

Erik Tønnesen, Between Prayer and Healing: Concepts of AIDS in a South African Community, 2006 (rettleiar). 

Runar Hovland, Minnebasert konsekvensteori: en teoretisk modell applisert på politisk engasjement hos konservative kristne i Norge, 2005 (rettleiar). 

Arnt Vidar Klungland, “Vi peker – landet preker”: Internasjonale kristne ambassade i Jerusalem, norsk avdeling: IKAJ som en norsk religio-politisk bevegelse, 2005 (rettleiar).

Anne Brit Lauvsnes, Re-Defining the Self: A Life Story Analysis of Women Living on Anti-Retroviral Treatment, 2005 (rettleiar). 

Torunn Elisabeth Bjørnsvik, Hvilken rolle spiller Norsk Luthersk Misjonssamband i den kulturelle globaliseringsprosessen i Tanzania? En studie av utviklingshjelpens kulturelle og religiøse påvirkningskraft, 2005 (rettleiar).

Hans Geir Aasmundsen, Religion og globalisering: pentekostale og katolikker i Argentina, 2003 (rettleiar). 

Ane Fidjestøl, Prinsen valgte det himmelske riket: en studie av mytekomplekset rundt slaget ved Kosovo/a i 1389, 2002 (rettleiar).

Anne M. Selland, Betraying the Nation: Reactions and Background to the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, 2002 (rettleiar). 

Gry Aksnes, “God is Nigerian”: The Role of Religion in the Process Towards Democracy and in the Discussion about Nigeria’s Future as One Nation, 2001 (rettleiar).

Jorun Gjelsvik, Influence of Islamic Culture on Scandinavian Management in Malaysia: A Glance at Multinational Management and Islamic Values, 2001 (rettleiar). 

Solveig Kavli, Ashé-Iyá: ein studie av afrocubanske artistar sitt forhold til santería og musikk, 2000 (rettleiar).

Tore Omdahl, Politisk engasjement hos pinsebevegelsene i Nicaragua, 1999 (rettleiar). 

Lina Snoek, Tro og sosial forpliktelse: en retning innen den cubanske pinsebevegelsen, 1999 (rettleiar).

Kjell Arne Kallevik, Christian Coalition som religio-politisk organisasjon, 1998 (rettleiar). 

Marie Steine von der Lippe, Pentekostale bevegelser i Latin-Amerika: en diskusjon av tre forklaringsmodeller, 1998 (hovudrettleiar).

Susanne Olsson, Religiopolitisk islam i mötet med det moderna: en analys av Hassan Hanafis sociopolitiska tolkning av islam, 1998 (rettleiar).

Dominique H. M. Dau-Vu, Den katolske kirken i Vietnam: en aktør i politiske og sosiale sammenheng, 1997 (rettleiar).           

Tone Lund-Olsen, Religion og globalisering: konsekvensar i Malaysia, 1997 (rettleiar).

Dessutan rettleiing av:

Bacheloroppgåver (C-uppsatser) og masteroppgåver (D-uppsatser), finsk-ugriske språk, Uppsala universitet, 1987–94

Bacheloroppgåver (C-uppsatser) og masteroppgåver (D-uppsatser), religionshistorie, Uppsala universitet, 1977–89

External and Oral Examiner of Doctoral Dissertation

Tore Johnsen, The Contribution of North Sami Everyday Christianity to a Cosmologically-Oriented Christian Theology, 2020 (School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh)

Opponent at the Public Defence of Doctoral Dissertations

Andreas Klein, Early Modern Knowledge about the Sámi: A History of Johannes Schefferus’ Lapponia (1673) and its Adaptations, 2021 (Department of Language and Culture, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø)

Anette Langås Larsen, Mapping the Experience and Use of Traditional Healing in Northern Norway: Among Conventional Health Care Providers, Users and Traditional Healers, 2018 (Dept. of Community Medicine, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø)

Sophie Alix Capdeville, L’histoire du livre saami en Finlande : ses racines et son développement de 1820 à 1920, 2017 (Dept. of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä)

Siv Rasmussen, Samisk integrering i norsk og svensk kirke i tidlig nytid: en komparasjon mellom Finnmark og Torne lappmark [‘Sami Integration in the National Churches of Norway and Sweden during the Early Modern Period: A Comparison between Finnmark and Torne Lappmark’], 2016 (Dept. of History and the Study of Religions, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø)

Gábor Tillinger, Samiska ord för ord: att mäta lexikalt avstånd mellan språk [‘Sami Word for Word: Measuring Lexical Distances between Languages’], 2014 (Dept. of Modern Languages, Uppsala University)

Taarna Valtonen, Kulttuurista onomastiikkaa: neljän saamen kielen paikannimien rakenne, sanasto ja rinnakkaisnimet vähemmistö–enemmistö-suhteiden kuvastajina [‘Cultural Onomastics. Place Names in Four Saami Languages as Mirrors of Minority–Majority Relations: Construction, Vocabulary, and Parallel Names’], 2014 (Giellagas Institute of Saami Linguistics and Saami Studies, University of Oulu)

Irja Seurujärvi-Kari, Ale jaskot eatni­giella: alkuperäiskansaliikkeen ja saamen kielen merkitys saamelaisten identiteetille [‘“Do Not Become Silent Mother Tongue”: The Role of the Civil Rights Movement among Indigenous Peoples and the Sami Language for Sami Identity’], 2012 (Dept. of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, University of Helsinki)

Tiina Äikäs, Rantakiviltä tuntureille: pyhät paikat saamelaisten rituaalisessa maisemassa [‘From Beach Stones to Mountains: Sacred Places in the Sami Ritual Landscape’], 2011 (Dept. of Archaeology, University of Oulu)

Märit Frändén,”Att blotta vem jag är”: släktnamnsskick och släktnamnsbyten hos samer i Sverige 1920–2009 [‘“Laying Bare who I am”: Surnames and Changes of Surname among the Sami of Sweden, 1920–2009’], 2010 (Dept. of Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala University)

Kaisa Rautio Helander, Namat dan nammii: sámi báikenamaid dáruiduhttin Várjjaga guovllus Norgga uniovdnaáigge loahpas [‘In the Name of Names: The Norwegianisation of the Sami Place Names in the Várjjat Area at the End of the Unionification Period of Norway’], 2008 (Giellagas Institute of Saami Linguistics and Saami Studies, University of Oulu)

Karin Wilson, Markusevangeliet i Lars Rangius samiska översättning från 1713 [‘The Gospel according to Mark in Lars Rangius’ Sami Translation from 1713’], 2008 (Dept. of Modern Languages, Uppsala University)

Karin Granqvist, Samerna, staten och rätten i Torne lappmark under 1600-talet: makt, diskurs och representation [‘The Sami, the State and the Court in Torne Lappmark during the Seventeenth Century: Power, Discourse, and Representation’], 2004 (Dept. of History, Umeå University)

Maths Bertell, Tor och den nordiska åskan: föreställningar kring världsaxeln [‘Thor and the Nordic Thunder: Conceptions Connected to the World Axis’], 2003 (Dept. of Comparative Religion, Stockholm University)

Maja Dunfjeld, Tjaalehtjimmie: form og innhold i sørsamisk ornamentikk [‘Form and Content of South Sami Ornamentation’], 2002 (Dept. of Art History, University of Tromsø)

Erika Meyer-Dietrich, Nechet und Nil: ein ägyptischer Frauensarg des Mittleren Reiches aus religionsökologischer Sicht, 2001 (Dept. of the History of Religions, Uppsala University)

Eli Høydalsnes, Møte mellom tid og sted: bilder av Nord-Norge [‘Encounters between Time and Place: Pictures of Northern Norway’], 1999 (Dept. of Art History, University of Tromsø)

Opponent at Final Reviews of Doctoral Dissertations (Sweden)

Simon Sorgenfrei, American Dervish: Making Mevlevism in North America, 2013 (Dept. of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion, University of Gothenburg)

Hans Geir Aasmundsen, Pentecostalism in Argentina, 2012 (School of Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University College)

Anna Sofia Hedberg, ‘I will live like this until I die...’: the idea of the forthcoming and community maintenance among Old Colony Mennonites, 2007 (Dept. of Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University)

Johan Wikström, ”Wåra förfäder woro hedningar”: nordisk forntid som myt i folkskolans pedagogiska texter fram till år 1919 [‘“Our Ancestors were Heathens”: Nordic Antiquity as Myth in the Pedagogic Texts of the (Swedish) Elementary School until 1919’], 2007 (Dept. of the History of Religions, Uppsala University)

Susanne Olsson, Hasan Hanafîs islamiska ideologi [‘The Islamic Ideology of Hasan Hanafi’], 2003 (Dept. of the History of Religions, Uppsala University)

David Thurfjell, Living Shi’ism: ritual and virtue among Islamist men in contemporary Iran, 2003 (Dept. of the History of Religions, Uppsala University)

Daniel Andersson, The Virgin of Guadalupe and The Day of the Dead, 2000 (Dept. of Religious Studies, University of Gothenburg)