Ulrich L. Lehner (born 1976 in
Straubing, Bavaria, Germany) is the Warren Foundation Professor of Theology at the
University of Notre Dame. He is a trained theologian and historian.
In 2013 he declined a job offer for a professorship in German Literature at the University of Kansas [6] and in 2019 for the Warren Chair at Duke Divinity School.[7] Since July 2019 he is the William K. Warren Foundation professor of theology at the
University of Notre Dame.[8]
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.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] In 2022 his book The Inner Life of Catholic Reform proposed proposed an integrative approach to consider spiritual factors in the study of the
Counter-Reformation and
Catholic Reform. 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.[17][18][19][20] In 2023 he published a monograph on
sexual crimes in the pre-1773
Society of Jesus, entitled Staged Chastity,[21] which has also attracted international attention.[22][23][24]
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.[25][26] Recently, he has been advocating for the usefulness of
Nicolai Hartmann's ontology in the field of history.[27] In 2023 he suggested a "synodal hermeneutic" for historical theology, demonstrating support for the reform agenda of
Pope Francis' Synod on Synodality.[28]
Lehner's publications have been translated into seven foreign languages.
Historia Magistra. Zur Archivgeschichte des altbayerischen Kollegiatstiftes SS. Jakobus und Tiburtius in Straubing. Nordhausen 2003,
ISBN3-88309-118-9.
Kants Vorsehungskonzept auf dem Hintergrund der deutschen Schulphilosophie und -theologie. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2007,
ISBN90-04-15607-0.
Enlightened Monks. The German Benedictines 1740–1803. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011,
ISBN0-19-959512-7.
Monastic Prisons and
Torture Chambers. Crime and Punishment in Central European Monasteries, 1600–1800. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2013,
ISBN978-1-62564-040-6.
Mönche und Nonnen im Klosterkerker. Ein verdrängtes Kapitel Kirchengeschichte. Kevelaer: ToposPlus 2015,
ISBN978-3-8367-1004-6. 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,
ISBN978-1-5064-0898-9
Bóg nie jest miły. Pułapka pluszowego chrześcijaństwa. W Drodze, 2020
ISBN978-83-7906-308-6. Polish translation.
Deus não é avô. Laisnova – Edição e Formação: Artis, 2020.ISBN978-972-9111-45-7. Portuguese translation.
Dieu n'est pas un chic type. Artège: 2022. ISBN 979-1033612100. French translation.
Think Better. Unlocking the Power of Reason. Baker Academic Press 2021. ISBN 978-1540964779.
The Inner Life of Catholic Reform. From the Council of Trent to the Enlightenment. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. ISBN 978-0197620601.
Inszenierte Keuschheit: Sexualdelikte in der Gesellschaft Jesu im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert. De Gruyter, 2023.
ISBN978-3-11-131114-2
Johann Poiger – Theologie ohne Hexen und Zauberer (1780). Religionsgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit Bd. 4. Bautz. 2006.
ISBN978-3-88309-368-0.
Religion nach Kant. Texte aus dem Werk des Kantianers Johann Heinrich Tieftrunk. Religionsgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit Bd. 3. Bautz, 2007.
ISBN978-3-88309-394-9.
Die scholastische Theologie im Zeitalter der Gnadenstreitigkeiten I: Neue Texte von Diego Paez (†1582), Diego del Mármol (†1664) und
Gregor von Valencia (†1603). Religionsgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit Bd. 2. Bautz, 2007.
ISBN978-3-88309-365-9
Klostergericht und -kerker. Der "Criminalprocess der Franciscaner" (1769). Religionsgeschichte der frühen Neuzeit Bd. 14. Nordhausen: Bautz, 2012.
ISBN978-3-88309-786-2
Paul Simon—The Human Element in the Church of Christ (1936). With an Introduction by Ulrich L. Lehner. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2016.
ISBN978-1-4982-9309-9.
Innovation in Early Modern Catholicism. London and New York: Routledge, 2022.
ISBN978-1-032-05197-0
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,
ISBN978-3-88309-236-2.
with Michael Printy: Brills Companion to the Catholic Enlightenment. Brill, 2010,
ISBN978-90-04-18351-3.
with Jeff Burson: Enlightenment and Catholicism in Europe. University of Notre Dame Press, 2014.
ISBN978-0-268-02240-2.
with G. Roeber, R. Muller: Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theology, 1500–1800. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2016,
ISBN978-0-19-993794-3. Paperback: 2018.
with R. Tacelli u. a.: Wort und Wahrheit. Fragen der Erkenntnistheorie. Festschrift f. Harald Schöndorf.Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 2019,
ISBN978-3-17-034986-5.
Catholic Enlightenment. A Global Anthology. Edited with Shaun Blanchard. Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2021.
ISBN978-0-8132-3398-7
^Pomplun, RT (20 September 2016). "The Catholic Enlightenment: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement. By Ulrich L. Lehner". J Am Acad Relig. 84 (4): 1175–7.
doi:
10.1093/jaarel/lfw068.