Arne Runeberg was born in Helsinki into the Swedish-speaking cultural family Runeberg; his great grandfather was Finland's national poet J. L. Runeberg. Arne Runeberg attained his B.A. degree at the University of Helsinki in 1939, but World War II made a stop to his postgraduate studies. In 1947, however, he was the first student to defend his doctoral thesis, Witches, Demons and Fertility Magic, at the new Faculty of Social Sciences in Helsinki University.
In addition to his doctoral thesis, Arne Runeberg wrote two substantial studies: Jesu korsfästelse i religionshistorisk belysning (1952) situates Jesus Christ in a long tradition of so-called carnival kings, and Some Observations on Linguistic Patterns in a Bilingual Society (1951–1954) discusses bilinguality. Runeberg himself was a bilingual Finn par excellence, using both Swedish and Finnish.
Arne Runeberg died in Helsinki, aged 67, soon after he was retired from the University.
Writings
Kortfattad finsk ordböjningslära (1945)
Witches, Demons and Fertility Magic: Analysis of Their Significance and Mutual Relations in West-European Folk Religion (1947)
Some Observations on Linguistic Patterns in a Bilingual Society I–II (1951–1954)
Jesu korsfästelse i religionshistorisk belysning (1952)