Mikael Rothstein (born 8 May 1961) is an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

of religious history at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. He has authored several books on the topic of religion and new religious movements.

Early life and education

Rothstein was born 8 May 1961 in Denmark. He earned his PhD in 1993 and became a Lector at the University of Copenhagen in 2001.Bente Clausen
"Kompromisløs forsker med bløde sider"
''

Kristeligt Dagblad ''Kristeligt Dagblad'' is a Danish newspaper in Copenhagen. The paper was founded in 1896 and is still circulation in the 2000s. It was founded with a Christian orientation. History and profile ''Kristeligt Dagblad'' was established in 1896. It ...

'', May 7, 2011 . He has been on the board of the Danish Association for the History of Religions (DAHR) and the editorial boards of the publications ''Renner Studies on New Religions'' (Aarhus University Press) and ''Nye Religioner'' (Gyldendal).Institut for Religionshistorie

Career

Rothstein has been called one of Denmark's top researchers in new religious movements,Jens-André Herbener
"Interview med religionshistoriker Mikael Rothstein"
''Politiken'', October 10, 2012 . and has been credited with making them a topic of scholarship. Another area of scholarly interest is indigenous religions; he was the first researcher to describe the Penan people of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. Rothstein has been involved in some conflicts in the media. In 2007 he was criticized after defending

Ungdomshuset Ungdomshuset () is a social centre in Copenhagen, currently based at Dortheavej 61, Bispebjerg. Between 1982 and 2007, it was located at Jagtvej 69, Nørrebro. That building was originally named Folkets Hus ("House of the People"), constructed ...

. In 2011 he was one of those criticizing the rephrasing of the mission of Denmark's state-owned broadcasting service, DR, to include promoting Christian values, which he called "a way of making us all hostages to a nationalist Christian project".Samuel Doveri Vesterbye
"Danish Radio embraces 'Christian values' in new contract"
''

Hürriyet Daily News The ''Hürriyet Daily News'', formerly ''Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review'' and ''Turkish Daily News'', is the oldest current English-language daily in Turkey, founded in 1961. The paper was bought by the Doğan Media Group in 2001 and ...

'', February 13, 2011. He has called Lars Hedegaard "an assailant" (), leading to criticism from other free speech advocates. He has been described in a Christian periodical as "uncompromising nda wonderful, intelligent man who is both warm, caring and generous with praise for both colleagues and students" and by another commentator in the same publication as demonstrating "one-sided bile" and "hatred" in his utterances concerning Christianity. An opinion article in another newspaper likewise portrayed him as a hater of religion.

Works

Among books he has written or co-edited are: ''Belief Transformations: Some Aspects of the Relation between Science and Religion in Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)'' (1996), ''Secular Theories on Religion: Current Perspectives'' (2000) (co-author with Tim Jensen), ''New Age Religion and Globalization'' (2002), ''New Religions in a Postmodern World'' (2003) (co-editor with

Reender Kranenborg Reender Kranenborg (1 June 1942 – 8 April 2020) was a Dutch theologian, pastor, and scholar of religion. He was editor of the magazine ''Religious Movement in the Netherlands'' published by the institute of religious studies of the Free Unive ...

) and ''The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements'' (2012) (co-editor with

Olav Hammer Olav Hammer (born 1958) is a Swedish professor emeritus at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense working in the field of history of religion. Career Hammer has written four books in Swedish and one monograph, ''Claiming Knowledge: Strat ...

Personal life

Rothstein and his wife, Mie, have two children. His brother, , is a well known TV journalist.

Bibliography

* ''Belief Transformations: Some Aspects of the Relation between Science and Religion in Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)'' (1996) * ''Secular Theories on Religion: Current Perspectives'' (2000) (co-author with Tim Jensen) * ''New Age Religion and Globalization'' (2002), * ''New Religions in a Postmodern World'' (2003) (co-editor with

) * ''The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements'' (2012) (co-editor with

)

References

External links

Mikael Rothstein
at University of Copenhagen

DR P1, October 16, 2006 (audio) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rothstein, Mikael 20th-century Danish historians 21st-century Danish historians 20th-century Danish Jews 21st-century Danish Jews Danish male writers Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Researchers of new religious movements and cults 1961 births Living people University of Copenhagen alumni Danish Ashkenazi Jews