Juha Pentikäinen
Juha Pentikäinen, born February 26, 1940, is a professor emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of Helsinki and a professor of northern ethnography at the University of Lapland and the Institute for Northern Culture in Helsinki. He works mainly through fieldwork, focusing on the oral histories of languages, religions, and cultures. His research explores Finnish religious traditions and their effects on people, and he has lectured at more than 100 universities around the world. His approach has influenced other scholars in his field. He has received many awards, including the 3rd honorary medal from the International Society for Shamanism for lifetime achievement in 1999. Since 1960 he has published 30 books, 250 articles, and 15 films. In 1995 he was elected a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.
Pentikäinen is best known for Kalevala Mythology, a detailed study of Elias Lönnrot’s Kalevala. He examines Lönnrot’s life, the epic itself, and the differences between the versions he wrote, arguing that the epic helped foster Finnish national romanticism and has a major role in Finnish culture.
His father, Veikko Pentikäinen (1909–1992), was a Laestadian Lutheran priest. His uncle Vilho Pentikäinen (b. 1903) was a lieutenant and photographer for the Finnish General Staff who was involved with Soviet intelligence; he fled to the Soviet Union and later served as a Soviet officer in Spain during the Civil War and in Leningrad and Estonia during the Winter War. In 2007, the Russian intelligence service (FSB) stated that his uncle died of starvation in a prison camp in March 1942 after being convicted of spying for Finland, though some researchers believe he continued in Soviet military intelligence and died in 1967.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 21:55 (CET).