What are your research topics?
I study lived religion as well as vernacular religion in our time. Among other things, I investigate what is often called ‘spirituality’, and how it fits into people’s everyday lives and the surrounding culture.
Where and how does the topic of your research have an impact?
It would be important for everyone to take an interest in the ways in which we live and interact with each other, partly in a shared reality, partly in different realities. In the middle of a multitude of changes, we need diverse knowledge on different ways of dealing with ourselves and others, as well as with life and death.
What is particularly inspiring in your field right now?
As a researcher and teacher, I am inspired by the ways in which my field can contribute to the study of differences between people and how these manifest in reality. I also wish to find out why certain experiences or the experiences of certain people are considered more valuable and credible than others.
Terhi Utriainen is the Professor of the Study of Religions at the Faculty of Theology.