Ulrich L. Lehner


Ulrich L. Lehner is the Warren Foundation Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is a trained theologian and historian.

Life and education

After graduating from the in Straubing in 1996 he received a B.A. in philosophy from the Munich School of Philosophy and a B.A. in theology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in 1999, and a diploma in theology from the University of Munich in 2003. In 2006 he received his PhD in theology from the Universität Regensburg with a thesis on the concept of providence of Immanuel Kant and Protestant scholasticism. In 2015 the received the degree of habilitated doctor in history from the Central European University with his award-winning book Enlightened Monks; it was the first ever degree of its kind awarded at the CEU.

Career

From 2006 to 2019 Lehner was professor of historical theology and religious history at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
In 2013 he declined a job offer for a professorship in German Literature at the University of Kansas and in 2019 for the Warren Chair at Duke Divinity School. Since July 2019 he is the William K. Warren Foundation professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame.

Research Focus

The bulk of his research is focused on the religious and cultural history spanning from the Renaissance era to the current times. His groundbreaking research on the Catholic Enlightenment has received international acclaim and established him as a leading authority on the subject. In 2022 his book The Inner Life of Catholic Reform proposed an integrative approach to consider spiritual factors in the study of the Counter-Reformation and Catholic Reform. Historian Carlos Eire praised this book as "a brilliant interweaving of cultural, intellectual, and social history reminiscent of the best histoire total produced by the Annales school." In recent years, Lehner has shifted his focus to historical studies on race and religion, particular the history of his own ethnic heritage, the Romani, and the history of sexuality.
Since 2013 he has penned several studies on clergy crimes, uncovering century old patterns of secrecy and deception about violent and sexual abuse. In 2023 he published a monograph on sexual crimes in the pre-1773 Society of Jesus, entitled Staged Chastity, which has also attracted international attention. His biography of Rudolf von Gerlach, which was praised for its gripping narrative style and detailed analysis, appeared in 2025.
Lehner has contributed in a variety of publications to the history of academic freedom, the history of gender and sexuality, the history of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, and the relationship between Catholic thinkers and German Nazi ideology. Recently, he has been advocating for the usefulness of Nicolai Hartmann's ontology in the field of history. In 2023 he suggested a "synodal hermeneutic" for historical theology, demonstrating support for the reform agenda of Pope Francis' Synod on Synodality.
Lehner's publications have been translated into seven foreign languages.

Honors

Since 2014 Lehner is a member of the European [Academy of Sciences and Arts], since 2018 of the Accademia Ambrosiana, and since 2022 of the Academia Europea.
Lehner was a member and Herodotus Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, twice a Distinguished Fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study, twice a research fellow of the Earhart Foundation, a senior fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation as well as the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation, visiting professor at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the University of Hamburg and the University of Pennsylvania. In 2025 Lehner received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which was rescinded briefly afterwards due to the DOGE budget cuts.

Publications (selected)

As sole author

Historia Magistra. Zur Archivgeschichte des altbayerischen Kollegiatstiftes SS. Jakobus und Tiburtius in Straubing. Nordhausen 2003,.Kants Vorsehungskonzept auf dem Hintergrund der deutschen Schulphilosophie und -theologie. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2007,.Enlightened Monks. The German Benedictines 1740–1803. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011,.
  • Monastic Prisons and Torture Chambers. Crime and Punishment in Central European Monasteries, 1600–1800. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2013,.
  • Mönche und Nonnen im Klosterkerker. Ein verdrängtes Kapitel Kirchengeschichte. Kevelaer: ToposPlus 2015,. Completely rewritten and enlarged German edition of Monastic Prisons.On the Road to Vatican II. German Catholic Enlightenment and Reform of the Church. Augsburg: Fortress Press, 2016, The Catholic Enlightenment. The Forgotten History of a Global Movement. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press 2016,.
  • * Die katholische Aufklärung. Weltgeschichte einer Reformbewegung. Paderborn 2017,. German translation.
  • * Katalikų Apšvieta. Pamiršta pasaulinio judėjimo istorija. Vox Altera, Vilnius 2018,. Lithuanian translation.
  • * Illuminismo cattolico. La storia dimenticata di un movimento globale. Milan, Edizione studium, 2022.. Italian translation.God is not nice. Ave Maria Press, 2017,.
  • *Dios no Mola. Homo Legens, 2019,. Spanish translation.
  • *Gott ist unbequem. Herder Verlag, 2019.. German translation.
  • *Bóg nie jest miły. Pułapka pluszowego chrześcijaństwa. W Drodze, 2020. Polish translation.
  • *Deus não é avô. Laisnova – Edição e Formação: Artis, 2020.. Portuguese translation.
  • *Dieu n'est pas un chic type. Artège: 2022.. French translation.
  • Think Better. Unlocking the Power of Reason. Baker Academic Press 2021..
  • The Inner Life of Catholic Reform. From the Council of Trent to the Enlightenment. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2022..
  • * La vida interior en la Reforma católica. Del Concilio de Trento a la Ilustración. Navarra: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, 2025.. Spanish translation.
  • Inszenierte Keuschheit: Sexualdelikte in der Gesellschaft Jesu im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert. De Gruyter, 2023.
  • Spion für Papst, Kaiser und British Empire: Das geheimnisvolle Leben des Rudolf von Gerlach. Herder, 2025.

As sole editor

Martin Knutzen – Beweis von der Wahrheit der christlichen Religion . Bautz 2006,.Johann Poiger – Theologie ohne Hexen und Zauberer. Religionsgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit Bd. 4. Bautz. 2006..Religion nach Kant. Texte aus dem Werk des Kantianers Johann Heinrich Tieftrunk. Religionsgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit Bd. 3. Bautz, 2007..Die scholastische Theologie im Zeitalter der Gnadenstreitigkeiten I: Neue Texte von Diego Paez, Diego del Mármol und Gregor von Valencia. Religionsgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit Bd. 2. Bautz, 2007. Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim: Justinus Febronius – De Statu Ecclesiae. Abbreviatus et Emendatus. Religionsgeschichte der frühen Neuzeit Bd. 5. Bautz, 2008. Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim: Justinus Febronius – Commentarius in Suam Retractationem. Religionsgeschichte der frühen Neuzeit Bd. 6. Bautz, 2008. Beda Mayr – Vertheidigung der katholischen Religion. Brill, 2009,.Klostergericht und -kerker. Der "Criminalprocess der Franciscaner". Religionsgeschichte der frühen Neuzeit Bd. 14. Nordhausen: Bautz, 2012. Paul Simon—The Human Element in the Church of Christ. With an Introduction by Ulrich L. Lehner. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2016..Otto Michael Knab's Fox Fables. Wipf and Stock, 2017,.Women, Enlightenment and Catholicism. Routledge, 2017,.Innovation in Early Modern Catholicism. London and New York: Routledge, 2022. Beda Mayr: A Defence of the Catholic Religion. The Existence, Necessity, and Limits of the Infallible Church. Translated and introduced by U.L. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2023,

As coeditor

  • with R. Tacelli: Giovanni Sala – Kontroverse Theologie. Nova et Vetera, 2005.
  • with R. Tacelli: Giovanni Sala – Kant, Lonergan und der christliche Glaube. Bautz, 2005,.
  • with Michael Printy: Brills Companion to the Catholic Enlightenment. Brill, 2010,.
  • with Jeff Burson: Enlightenment and Catholicism in Europe. University of Notre Dame Press, 2014..
  • with G. Roeber, R. Muller: Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theology, 1500–1800. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2016,. Paperback: 2018.
  • with R. Tacelli u. a.: Wort und Wahrheit. Fragen der Erkenntnistheorie. Festschrift f. Harald Schöndorf. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 2019,.Catholic Enlightenment. A Global Anthology. Edited with Shaun Blanchard. Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2021.

As series editor