Along with Christianity and Islam, Judaism constitutes the three so-called Abrahamic religions, all of which trace their origins to the patriarch Abraham. Uppsala University has long had professorships focusing on Christianity and, since 2012, a professorship in Islamic theology and philosophy, but there has been no professorship focusing on Jewish studies.

- Having professorships in all three major monotheistic world religions is a long-standing vision at our faculty that comes true with this donation," says Cecilia Wejryd, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University.

- The Foundation is pleased that Uppsala University and the Faculty of Theology can now fill the gap and that Uppsala University and Sweden's position in the research field can be strengthened," says Maria Söderberg, Chair of the Torsten Söderberg Foundation.

The research field of Jewish Studies is interdisciplinary and examines a wide range of aspects: philosophy, law, culture, history, religion and language. The new chair focuses on the more narrowly defined field of Jewish thought. This research area studies Jewish texts and their interpretations in relation to the history of ideas.

The English name of the professorship is The Torsten Söderberg Professorship in Jewish Thought

Read more about the professorship at Uppsala University.