Research network

Protestant Roots of Finnish National Identities (ProFini)

The year 2017 is an important double-anniversary in Finnish society, since it marks the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence and also the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation at Wittenberg in Germany. ProFini 2017 is a research network that purposes to honor these anniversaries in an academic way by combining these two themes in research and by raising academic and public discussion on it. The driving research question of the network is the possible long-term effects of the Reformation, and especially that of Lutheranism, on the formation of Finnish society, culture and national identity.

The research network organizes events and lectures in 2016 and 2017 to the academic audience but also the greater public as well as publishes new research findings. The project aims at raising academic and public discussion about how Finland became Finland and what role Lutheranism may have played in this development.

The network consists of 45 researchers from eight different universities. Researchers come from the following universities in Finland: University of Helsinki, University of Jyväskylä, University of Tampere, University of Turku, University of Eastern Finland and the University of the Arts Helsinki. Activities are coordinated by Kaius Sinnemäki (Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki) together with the rest of the core group: Robert H. Nelson (University of Maryland), Anneli Portman (University of Helsinki) and Jouni Tilli (University of Jyväskylä).