A Christmas greeting from the director of the Polin Institute

To begin with, I want to thank you all for the good work done together, and the beautiful sense of community we have experienced through this year 2024. When one plants a fruit tree a lot of work is required in the beginning even if the outcome is uncertain. You dig a hole, plant the seedling, and water it even if you cannot know whether the seedling will survive and whether the fruits will be good and plenty. Then, eventually, the fruits begin to appear.

My sense is that we are gradually entering the stage when the fruits of the Polin Institute really begin to appear even if some have been harvested already earlier. There are many books in the pipeline to prestigious international publishing houses, with varying publishing schedules. There are several externally funded projects to which Polin has been able to chip in and the theological environment at Åbo Akademi University is vibrant and global. We are attracting strong candidates to our visiting research fellow programs from all corners of the world. Some of them have returned and many more are planning to come back to Åbo which bears witness to the attraction of our institute. All this has required hard work, commitment and team effort from our researchers – visiting or a little more permanent – and from the administrative staff, Laura and Tove.

The last few years have been a time of very quick growth of our fruit tree. New programs, activities and researcher positions have been established at a very quick pace. Now this period of rapid growth has come to an end, or at least to a plateau before possible future expansion. Next year will thus look different from the previous years. We will not be able to recruit new researchers next year, and even otherwise, our economic resources will be considerably more limited than this year. I hope that this challenge will help us to crystallise our vision and have the same effect as pruning a vine: production of even better grapes.

One of the Polin highlights in education was the Abraham Goes Global- joint course between Åbo Akademi and Stellenbosch universities where the students got to know Judaism, Christianity and Islam in Finland and in South Africa. Whatever we have in front of us next year, one lesson we can learn from African cultures is the value of community and cooperation. I trust that these things will carry us through the coming year and help us grow stronger and more united.

I wish all the Polin-community a peaceful and refreshing Christmas time concentrating on what is essential to our life values and what gives meaning also to our academic work. May we return to research and teaching full of energy and enthusiasm.

Mika Vähäkangas

Image by GPMMAB from Pixabay.