Lisa Bukhave Jensen

Short presentation

I am a PhD student in the History of Religion, focusing particularly on ancient religions and languages. My thesis revolves around Indo-European languages and evolutionary studies of religion. I have broad knowledge of the religions and languages of ancient Europe, Eurasia, and South Asia. I am also interested in modern religions, as well as theories and methods in the Study of religion.

Keywords

• language development
• historical linguistics
• cognitive science of religion
• cultural evolution
• history of religion
• Indo-European studies
• Indo-Iranian studies
• methodology in the study of religion
• theory in the study of religion

Biography

I hold a bachelor's degree in the Study of Religion and Classics from Aarhus University (Denmark), and a master's in the Study of Religion from the same university. In addition, I have been a guest student in Indo-European studies at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark).

Besides my work as a PhD student, I am also responsible for the subjects "Germansk religion og mytologi", "Hittitisk religion", "Indoeuropæisk religion", "Vedisk religion", "Zarathustrism" on the Danish National Encyclopedia (Lex.dk), where I have authored several of the articles.

Research

My research area is the religions of Indo-European-speaking groups. The linguistic relationship between the Indo-European cultures provides a unique opportunity to study how cultures from a shared point of departure develop and adapt when faced with new milieus and social realities. Thus, I wish to combine theories of cognitive, cultural, and human evolution with classical Indo-European linguistics and comparative text analysis.

My thesis explores the relationship among developments in language, religion, and power structures in Indo-European cultures by focusing on how gods and kings are addressed. My point of departure is the Vedic title asura (Avestan: ahura) and its use in the oldest part of the Vedic textual material. I compare this to studies of the (linguistically) related Hittite title Ḫaššu (meaning "king") and the Old Norse Æsir. By comparing these studies, I discuss how religious symbolic systems are shaped by societal developments and different milieus, creating distinct cultures through selection and adaptation processes.