Folke Ström

Stig Axel Folke Ström (15 October 1907 – 20 January 1996) was a Swedish religious studies scholar who specialized in the study of Germanic religion.

Biography Folke Ström was born in Eskilstuna, Sweden on 15 October 1907. the son of politician Fredrik Ström and author Tua Ström. He grew up in Stockholm. After graduating from high school, Ström studied ethnography, Nordic languages and religious history at Stockholm University. Among his teachers were Elias Wessén, Tor Andræ and . He gained his B.A. in 1936, and his Ph.D. in 1942. His doctoral thesis, On the Sacred Origin of the Germanic Death Penalties (1942). Ström's thesis was praised upon publication, and he was appointed a docent at Stockholm University in 1943. He was offered the position of professor at Lund University in 1943, but decided to continue his work at Stockholm. Since 1948, Ström was docent at the University of Gothenburg.

Ström specialized in the study of Germanic religion, particularly Old Norse religion. He wrote numerous influential studies on this subjects.

Ström retired in 1972. Ström died in Gothenburg, Sweden on 20 January 1996.

Selected works On the Sacral Origin of the Germanic Death Penalties, 1942 Den döendes makt och Odin i trädet, 1947 Den egna kraftens män. En studie i forntida irreligiositet, 1948 Diser, nornor, valkyrjor. Fruktbarhetskult och sakralt kungadöme i Norden, 1954 Loki. Ein mythologisches problem, 1956 Nordisk hedendom: tro och sed i förkristen tid, 1961