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Tobias Hägerland

Head of Department

Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion
Telephone
+46 31-786 43 84
Mail
tobias.hagerland@lir.gu.se
Visiting address
Renströmsgatan 6
41255 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 200
40530 Göteborg

Professor

Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion
Telephone
+46 31-786 43 84
Mail
tobias.hagerland@lir.gu.se
Visiting address
Renströmsgatan 6
41255 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 200
40530 Göteborg

About Tobias Hägerland

Head of the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion since July 2024.

Professor of Religious Studies and Theology, specializing in New Testament Studies.

Research

My current research is focused on New Testament texts as expressions of emergent Christianity in the early second century, and I have recently written a scholarly commentary on the Pastoral Epistles in Swedish (published in 2026). As part of the research programme At the End of the World, which is funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, I investigate apocalyptic motives and notions in such second-century early Christian texts.

Another research interest of mine is the influence of ancient education on New Testament texts. I have investigated parts of the Synoptic Gospels from this perspective, and I am now preparing a couple of publications pertaining to Paul and his location within the Hellenistic tradition of paideia. My previous research was devoted to questions about the historical Jesus, and within that field I published my dissertation on Jesus and the forgiveness of sins, two international conference volumes, several articles and a book co-authored with Cecilia Wassen in Swedish (a revised and expanded English version has been published on T&T Clark).

Education

One of my concerns is to contribute to high scholarly and pedagogical standards of education. I am the main supervisor for Johanna Larsdal's PhD project, and my former doctoral student Tobias Ålöw defended his thesis successfully in 2020. In addition, I serve as assistant supervisor for Maria Sturesson and David Svärd, both of whom are doing their work at Lund University.

Academic leadership

I serve as Head of Department at the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion during the term 2024-2030. In 2021-2024, I was an assistant Head of Department (Head of Education) at the same department, and in 2012-2017 I was director of studies at the Centre for Religious Studies and Theology, Lund University.

Additionally, I have engaged occasionally in public debate about collegiality, professionalism and true viewpoint diversity in the academy, and I am a member of Heterodox Academy.