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Kirsten Marie Hartvigsen

Image of Kirsten Marie Hartvigsen
Phone +47 22 85 41 56
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Visiting address Moltke Moes vei 35 Niels Henrik Abels hus 0851 Oslo
Postal address Postboks 1099 Blindern 0317 Oslo

 

ACADEMIC INTERESTS
I am particularly interested in how religious texts are perceived, interpreted, and taught in various contexts. As a biblical scholar, I have examined how religious texts have been read, heard, and interpreted in different historical contexts. As a religious education scholar, I have focused on how religious texts are taught by religious education teachers and religious education textbooks. My research is interdisciplinary with emphasis on different theoretical perspectives from literary theory, linguistics, and various cognitive approaches to literature. Recently, I have both employed these theoretical perspectives to shed light on the historical reception of religious texts and to elucidate the results of current empirical research.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES
2016 – present Supervision of MA-students writing theses in Religious Education. Master and bachelor courses in Religious Education (PPU3210, PPU3220, PROF1015, PROF3025, PROF4045, RELDID4010, RELDID4001, RELDID4002, RELDID4009). Faculty of Educational Sciences, Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo, Norway

2010 – 2014 Master and bachelor courses in Religious Studies (Women in the Bible, Bachelor's Project, History of Religion, Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism, Mysticism and Magic). Faculty of Theology/Department of Culture and Society - Study of Religion, Aarhus University, Denmark

2003 – 2008 Master and bachelor courses in Biblical Studies (KRIS1004, KRIS2001, KRIS4004). The Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, Norway

2005 Bachelor course (KRL204). MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society

SHORT CV

EDUCATION

2009 PhD: “Prepare the Way of the Lord:” Towards a Cognitive Poetic Analysis of Audience Involvement with Characters and Events in the Markan World. New Testament Studies, The Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, Norway
   
2001 Master (Christianity and Religious Studies). Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway

2000 1-year programme in educational theory and practice. Faculty of Educational Sciences, Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo, Norway    

1996 Bachelor (German, History, Christianity, including Religious Studies, Koine Greek and Jewish Hellenistic Culture). University of Oslo and MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway   

CURRENT POSITION
2019 – present Associate Professor of Religious Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo, Norway

2021 - 2025 Chief Editor of Acta Didactica Norden

PREVIOUS POSITIONS
2016 – 2019 Senior Lecturer of Religious Education. Faculty of Educational Sciences, Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo, Norway

2015 Teacher. Ringstabekk lower secondary school, Norway

2013 – 2014 Postdoctoral Fellow. Faculty of Theology/Department of Culture and Society – Study of Religion, Aarhus University, Denmark

2010 – 2013 Postdoctoral Fellow. The Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, Norway

2009 Teacher. Hakadal lower secondary school, Norway

2003 – 2008 Senior Research Fellow in New Testament Studies. The Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, Norway

2005 Temporary Teacher. MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway

2001 – 2005 Teacher. Stav lower secondary school, Norway

COLLABORATIONS AND NETWORKS

2019-2021 Participant in the international project Cognitive Linguistics and New Testament Narrative: Investigating Methodology through Characterization

2014-2015 Participant in the European book project The Complexity of Conversion: Intersectional Perspectives on (Religious) Change in Antiquity

2012-2013 Participant in the international network Sacred Meal, Communal Meal, Table Fellowship, and the Eucharist

2010-2013 Member of the Steering Committee for the NordForsk Network Socio-Cognitive Perspectives on Early Judaism and Early Christianity

2008-2010 Participant in the international network Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism in Late Antiquity. Texts and Rites in Early Judaism, Graeco-Roman Religion and Early Christianity

2005-2006 Participant in the NordForsk network Early Christianity in its Greco-Roman Context

RESEARCH STAYS ABROAD

1.7.2012-12.06.2013 Aarhus University

2.4.-30.6.2012 University of Chicago

1.9.2011-1.4 2012 Aarhus University

1.4.-31.8. 2011 Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

1.9. 2010- 31.3. 2011 Aarhus University

MEMBERSHIPS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

2020 – present Associate Member of International Seminar of Religious Education and Values (ISREV).

2020 – present Member of Norwegian RE-research Forum (NoReFo)

2019 – present Member of The Society of New Testament Studies (SNTS).

2003 – present Member of Society of Biblical Literature

Publications

       
Monographs

Hartvigsen, K. M. 2018. Aseneth's Transformation (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter).


–.    2012. Prepare the Way of the Lord: Towards a Cognitive Poetic Analysis of Audience Involvement with Characters and Events in the Markan World (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter).

 

Articles and chapters in anthologies

Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2026). Teachers as facilitators of exploration in lower secondary religious education: classroom perspectives from Norway. British Journal of Religious Education. ISSN 0141-6200. s. 1–15. doi: 10.1080/01416200.2026.2616347.

Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2025). Discussions of ethical dilemmas: developing ethical competence and life skills in upper secondary religious education in Norway. British Journal of Religious Education. ISSN 0141-6200. doi: 10.1080/01416200.2025.2591299.

Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2025). Maps and Territory: Templates for exploring and comparing religious traditions in Norwegian upper secondary religious education. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE). 9(4). doi: 10.7577/njcie.6281.

Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2025). “Life Skills Are Everything”: How Do Norwegian Secondary Religious Education Teachers Perceive the Concept of Life Skills? Religious Education. ISSN 0034-4087. 120(4), s. 330–346. doi: 10.1080/00344087.2025.2510749.

Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie & Haakedal, Elisabet (2022). Jesus’ parables for and by ten-year-olds: applying blending theory in in-depth analyses of pupils’ RE texts, RE textbook passages, and teacher’s handbook passages in the context of Norwegian inclusive public religious education. British Journal of Religious Education. ISSN 0141-6200. doi: 10.1080/01416200.2022.2052803.

Hartvigsen, K. M. 2021. How audience members envision new testament characters: Mental character models, blending, and the reception of Luke 1:5-2:52. Biblical Interpretation. ISSN 0927-2569. 29(4-5), s. 551–589. doi: 10.1163/15685152-29040007.


 

 

  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2026). The Narrative Impact of Luke 15:1–7: The Audience’s Construction of Virtues and Values. In Gelardini, Gabriella; Fuglseth, Kåre Sigvald & Bekken, Per Jarle (Ed.), Virtus et Humanitas : Bridging Virtues and Values of Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian Paideia.. Waxmann Verlag. ISSN 9783818800895. p. 675–702. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2026). Teachers as facilitators of exploration in lower secondary religious education: classroom perspectives from Norway. British Journal of Religious Education. ISSN 0141-6200. p. 1–15. doi: 10.1080/01416200.2026.2616347. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2025). Discussions of ethical dilemmas: developing ethical competence and life skills in upper secondary religious education in Norway. British Journal of Religious Education. ISSN 0141-6200. doi: 10.1080/01416200.2025.2591299. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2025). Maps and Territory: Templates for exploring and comparing religious traditions in Norwegian upper secondary religious education. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE). 9(4). doi: 10.7577/njcie.6281. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2025). “Life Skills Are Everything”: How Do Norwegian Secondary Religious Education Teachers Perceive the Concept of Life Skills? Religious Education. ISSN 0034-4087. 120(4), p. 330–346. doi: 10.1080/00344087.2025.2510749. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie & Haakedal, Elisabet (2022). Jesus’ parables for and by ten-year-olds: applying blending theory in in-depth analyses of pupils’ RE texts, RE textbook passages, and teacher’s handbook passages in the context of Norwegian inclusive public religious education. British Journal of Religious Education. ISSN 0141-6200. doi: 10.1080/01416200.2022.2052803. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2021). The Complexity of Aseneth's Transformation, The Complexity of Conversion. Intersectional Perspectives on Religious Change in Antiquity and Beyond. Equinox Publishing. ISSN 9781781795729. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2021). How audience members envision new testament characters: Mental character models, blending, and the reception of Luke 1:5-2:52. Biblical Interpretation. ISSN 0927-2569. 29(4-5), p. 551–589. doi: 10.1163/15685152-29040007. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2019). Knowledge about the Bible and Skills for Biblical Interpretation Imparted by Norwegian RE Textbooks for Upper Secondary Education. Religious Education. ISSN 0034-4087. doi: 10.1080/00344087.2019.1677997. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie & Tørresen, Kristina (2019). Beyond the Bullet Points: Teaching the Bible in Norwegian Upper Secondary Religious Education. Religious Education. ISSN 0034-4087. p. 1–13. doi: 10.1080/00344087.2019.1706018. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2017). The Meal Formula, the Honeycomb, and Aseneth's Transformation. In Hellholm, David & Sänger, Dieter (Ed.), The Eucharist – Its Origins and Contexts. Sacred Meal, Communal Meal, Table Fellowship in Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity. Mohr Siebeck. ISSN 9783161539183. p. 223–251. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2011). Matthew 28:9-20 and Mark 16:9-20: Different Ways of Relating Baptism to the Joint Mission of God, John the Baptist, Jesus, and their Adherents. In Hellholm, David; Vegge, Tor; Norderval, Øyvind & Hellholm, Christer (Ed.), Ablution, initiation, and baptism : late antiquity, early Judaism, and early Christianity. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9783110247510. p. 655–715. doi: 10.1515/9783110247534.655. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2018). Aseneth's Transformation. De Gruyter Brill. ISBN 9783110363371. 246 p. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hartvigsen, Kirsten Marie (2012). Prepare the Way of the Lord:Towards a Cognitive Poetic Analysis of Audience Involvement with Characters and Events in the Markan World. De Gruyter Brill. ISBN 9783110253474. 621 p. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

View all works in NVA

Published Aug. 15, 2016 12:47 PM - Last modified Aug. 7, 2026 12:17 PM

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