Study of Religions

About the unit
The study of religion generates knowledge about religion and religious practices, as well as related values, norms, beliefs, and spirituality. Religious studies in Copenhagen help to deepen our understanding of and the relationship between religion, society, politics, and culture both within and outside Denmark. The research helps increase knowledge of religion as a cultural, historical, and contemporary phenomenon.
Contact
Frank Sejersen
Head of Section
The department’s religious studies researchers work in fields such as history, sociology, history of ideas, and anthropology. The research focuses, for example, on gender, migration, minority-majority relations, cultural change, esotericism, aesthetics, technology, politics, law, and popular culture. We operate at the intersection of basic and applied research, where findings are disseminated in journals, at international and national conferences, in public lectures, through public policy engagement, and in the news media.
Each year, the academic community organizes a public seminar featuring both researchers and societal stakeholders on a current topic. The contributions are published in a subsequent issue of our open-access digital journal RELevans. There is a strong and active academic community that regularly organizes seminars for participants at all levels of research and guest lectures open to the public.
Muslims and Islamic learning

Listen to Muslims and Islamic learning: A podcast series
Three episodes in Danish and one in English entitled “Young German Muslims in Turkish Islamic Theology”.
Research clusters and projects
Complexity and Beyond in Studies of Religiosity in the Nordic Countries (CBSR)
Funding: NordForsk
Project period: 1 January 2021 - 31 December 2022
Contact: Peter Birkelund Andersen
Covid-19 – Religion and existential wellbeing
Funding: Velux Foundation
Project period: 18 March 2020 - 18 March 2023
Contact: Peter Birkelund Andersen
- Survey 14th – 21st May 2020 (pdf, in Danish)
- Responses to selected questions 14th – 21st May 2020 (pdf, in Danish)
- Datafile for the collection 14th – 21st May 2020 (SAV)
Danish Mosques – Significance, Use and Influence
Funding: Independent Research Fund Denmark
Project period: 2017 - 2020
Contact: Brian Arly Jacobsen
Rearticulating Islam: A New Generation of Muslim Religious Leaders
Funding: Velux Foundations
Project period: 2019-2022
Contact: Simon Stjernholm
Religious councils and courts in a Danish context
Funding: Queen Mary Centre's ‘Seed Money’ Fund 2022
Project period: March 2023 – March 2024
Contact: Brian Arly Jacobsen
Researchers and lecturers
- Guest Researcher
- PhD Fellow
- Head of Department
- Associate Professor
- Affiliate Professor
- Postdoc
- External Researcher
- Professor
- Associate Professor - Promotion Programme
- Associate Professor
- Assistant Professor - Tenure Track
- Professor, Emerita
- Associate Professor
- Associate Professor
- Postdoc