Raisa Toivo

• Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences in the Unit of Social Research, responsible for Early Modern Studies Research Group and History of Lived Religion Research Group.​
• Research focus: Early Modern Society and History of Experience​
• Expertise in: histories of religious conflict; history of crime, violence and punishment; the Reformation and religious orthodoxy/heterodoxy; history of witchcraft and witch trials; historical methodologies​
• Collaboration offering: Early modern histories of society; History through biography; Community histories; Methodological development in History of Experience

Head of the Doctoral Program in History, Leader in the Lived Religion Strand at the Centre of Excellence in the History of Experience, vice chair of the center.

I seek to advance research by developing innovative methodological approaches, particularly within the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of the history of experience, as well as in the histories of lived religion, legal practice, power, and crime. I am motivated by the possibilities that emerge when established practices are re‑examined through new perspectives and when fresh lines of inquiry are pursued.

My work focuses primarily on the history of early modern society. I maintain that temporal distance enables us to engage with even the more difficult questions of contemporary society with greater openness and analytical calm.

Selection of Recent(ish) Articles:

Toivo, Raisa Maria "“I Rejoice in the Lord as if my Soul was with you … :” Experience, Embodiment, and the Jesuit Mission to Sweden". Reformation 30(2025): 2, pp. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574175.2025.2555928 open access 

Toivo, Raisa Maria: Toivo, Raisa Maria: Communion as Shared Experience In Early Modern Finland. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 55:1 January 2025, pp 121-142. DOI https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-11568685 (free-access Author Link until 17.April): https://read.dukeupress.edu/jmems/article/55/1/121/393707/Communion-as-Shared-Experience-in-Early-Modern?guestAccessKey=d7edc808-7a20-442f-b6da-631935821703
 Katajala-Peltomaa, Sari & Toivo, Raisa Maria: Lived Religion and Shared Experience in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe in: Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (2025) 55:1, (January 2025) pp. 1–10. DOI https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-11568607 (free-access Author Link until 17. April): https://read.dukeupress.edu/jmems/article/55/1/1/393713/Lived-Religion-and-Shared-Experience-in-Late?guestAccessKey=35d546ab-7e9b-4cdc-9ddc-f41be669359e

Toivo, Raisa Maria: Elämänkokemus. Henkilön ja kokemuksen historia yhteistyössä. [Life experience: Biography and history of experience in cooperation] In: Henkilöhistoria ja varhaismoderni aika ed by Lares, J., Toivo, R. M. & Välimäki, M. (eds.). Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, p. 177-208 (Historiallisia tutkimuksia; no. 292). DOI: https://doi.org/10.21435/ht.292

Toivo, Raisa Maria & Willumsen, Liv Helene: A narratological approach to witchcraft trial records: Creating experience. SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY. 47, 1 2022. Open Access

Eiranen, R., Hatavara, M., Kivimäki, V., Mäkelä, M. & Toivo, R., : Narrative and Experience: Interdisciplinary methodologies between history and narratology: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY. 47, 1. 2022 . Open Access

Monographs:

Katajala-Peltomaa, Sari & Toivo, Raisa Maria: Lived Religion and Gender in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Routledge 2021. Co-authored monograph. Open access https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351003384

Muravyeva, Marianna G., Shon, Phillip S. & Toivo, Raisa Maria: Parricide and Violence against Parents. A Cross-Cultural View across Past and Present. Routledge 2021. (co-authored monograph)

Toivo, Raisa Maria: Faith and Magic in Early Modern Finland. Palgrave Macmillan 2016.

Toivo, Raisa Maria: Witchcraft and Gender in Early Modern Finland: Finland and the Wider European Experience . Ashgate 2008.

Edited collections:

Lares, Jenni, Toivo, Raisa Maria & Välimäki, Mari: Henkilöhistoria ja varhaismoderni aika. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21435/ht.292

Katajala-Peltomaa, Sari &Toivo, Raisa Maria: Histories of Experience in the World of Lived Religion. Palgrave Macmillan 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92140-8

Miettinen, Riikka & Toivo Raisa Maria (toim.): Varhaismodernin yhteiskunnan historia: Lähestymistapoja yksilöihin ja yhteiskuntaan. Gaudeamus 2021. [History of Early Modern Society: Current Approaches]

Journal Special Issues

Journal for Medieval and Early Modern Studies special issue 55:1 (January 2025): Lived religion as shared experience. Guest Editors Katajala-Peltomaa, S. and Toivo, R.M.

Scandinavian Journal of history Special Issue: Narrative and Experience: Interdisciplinary methodologies between history and narratology 47 (1) 2022 Guest editors Eiranen, R., Hatavara, M., Kivimäki, V., Mäkelä, M. & Toivo, R. (open access)

Scandinavian Journal of History Special Issue: Gender, Material Culture and Emotions in Scandinavian History . 41 (3)2016 guest editors Jacqueline van Gent and Raisa Maria Toivo 

Journal of Family History Special Issue: ‘‘Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother’’: A History of Violence against Parent s 41 (3) 2016. Guest Editors Marianna Muravyeva and Raisa Maria Toivo