Acknowledgements
Producing a thesis or a book is never a solitary process, even when most of the work is done in the isolation imposed by an ongoing pandemic. The present work, which is a revised version of my dissertation, submitted to Uppsala University in the fall of 2021 and publicly defended on 15 October 2021, would not have been made possible without the help and encouragement of friends and colleagues, to whom I owe my sincerest thanks. I am particularly grateful to my supervisors, Nils Billing and Jens Wilhelm Borgland, whose continuous support and advice have been an invaluable resource. Special thanks also go to Peter Jackson Rova (Stockholm) for agreeing to read the whole manuscript, and for his valuable feedback at my final seminar.
I would like to thank the Department of Theology at Uppsala University for providing the financial support that made the study possible, as well as a stimulating working environment (at least, before and after lockdown). My work has benefited greatly from the many valuable comments and criticisms received at the joint Higher Seminar in the History of Religions, World Christianity, and Interreligious Studies. I would like to express my gratitude to the heads of the seminar, Lena Roos and Kajsa Ahlstrand, as well as those who have participated in the seminars over the years: Anthony Fiorucci, Ernils Larsson, Tomas Poletti Lundström, Dan Långström, Stina Karltun, Oulia Makkonen, Christian Haag, Hans Nicklasson, Julia Kuhlin, Elie Kabwe, Anders Wejryd, Emma Sundström, Angelika Drigo, Sofia Oreland, Håkan Bengtsson, Gabriella Beer, and Anita Yadala Suneson.
Much valuable feedback has also come from colleagues at the Indological section of the Department of Linguistics and Philology. I am grateful to Heinz Werner Wessler, Gunilla Gren-Eklund, Christiane Schaefer, Pär Eliasson, and Sven Ekelin for encouragement, advice on linguistic issues, and some healthy criticism.
Draft chapters of the thesis were presented at the Higher Seminar in the History of Religions at Stockholm University and at the joint research school in Religious Studies held in Uppsala and Lund. I wish to thank the participants at those occasions, in particular Peter Jackson Rova (again!), Erik af Edholm, Kristoffer af Edholm, Leif Asplund, Olof Sundqvist, and Olle Qvarnström for their many useful comments and criticisms. I am also grateful to Kenneth Zysk (Copenhagen) for his encouragement and suggestions in the course of our correspondence.
Many valuable comments were received at my thesis defense. I want to express my deep gratitude to the opponent, Joel Brereton, and to the members of the examination board, Ute Hüsken, Knut Jacobsen, and Christiane Schaefer, for taking the time to read through the whole thesis.
I am grateful to Laura Morris and Rashmi Shetty at Brill and to the two anonymous reviewers of my book proposal, whose comments have helped to improve the final manuscript.
Thanks are also due to Heather Owen for checking my English. Needless to say, any mistakes relating to language and spelling are entirely my own.
Parts of Chapter 1 are based on my anthology chapter “The Origins of Soul-Beliefs: A Survey of Theories from the 19th Century to the Present,” published in Leah Hawkins and Brent Bowers (eds.), Examining the Concept of the Soul (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2018, pp. 1–56). I thank Nova Science Publishers for permission to reuse elements from that text.
Finally, I wish to thank my brother, Per-Anders, for his consistent support and interest in my work. Our conversations have been a source of light relief in busy and strange times.