Volker Leppin

Educated at the University of Marburg Heidelberg University, and the Theological Academic Year in Jerusalem program, Volker Leppin received a chair in Church History at the University of Jena (Thuringia, Germany) in 2000. Ten years later, he moved to the University of Tübingen in Southern Germany, where he held the chair in Church History and directed the Institute for Late Middle Ages and Reformation from 2010 to 2021. He is a member of the Academies of Sciences at Heidelberg, the Saxonian Academy of Sciences, and as well the European Academy of Arts and Sciences, Salzburg, Austria, three distinguished scholarly societies in Europe.

Professor Leppin is the author of 20 monographs, most of them in German. His biography of Martin Luther, Martin Luther. A Late Medieval Life, (Baker Academic,  2017) is also available in English. He has provided several critical text editions, e.g. William of Ockham, Dialogus. Part 2. Part 3, Tract 1, ed. with John Kilcullen, John Scott and Jan Ballweg (Oxford, 2011). In addition, he is the editor or co-editor of 67 books, and the author of more than 400 scholarly articles and chapters, altogether covering a broad range of interests from antiquity to the modern area.

Professor Leppin’s scholarship is particularly interested in medieval and Reformation studies. He argues that the Reformation should be understood as a transformation of the medieval world rather than a stark rupture, as can be seen in his recent volume Sola. His work also focuses on the history of spirituality, mainly in mysticism. Accordingly, among his recent books is a history of Christian mysticism from the Bible to the 20th century: Ruhen in Gott (Rest in God). His most recent book is a biography of Francis of Assisi, published by Yale University Press.

Most important books:

1. Francis of Assisi : The Life of a Restless Saint, New Haven / London: Yale University Press 2025 (transl. of: Franziskus von Assisi, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2018).
2. United with Christ : Martin Luther and Christian Mysticism, Minneapolis: Fortress 2025.
3. Sola: Christ, Grace, Faith and Scripture Alone in Martin Luther’s Theology, Minneapolis: Fortress 2024. Featured on https://www.lutheranquarterly.org/?p=6605.
4. Ruhen in Gott. Eine Geschichte der christlichen Mystik, Munich: Beck 2021
5. Repräsentation und Reenactment. Spätmittelalterliche Frömmigkeit verstehen, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2021. 
6. Die fremde Reformation. Luthers mystische Wurzeln, Munich: Beck 2016. 
7. Martin Luther. A Late Medieval Life, Grand Rapids: Baker Academics 2017 (transl. of Martin Luther. Vom Mönch zum Feind des Papstes, Darmstadt 2013. 2nd edition 2015)
8. Transformationen. Studien zu den Wandlungsprozessen in Theologie und Frömmigkeit zwischen Spätmittelalter und Reformation, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2015. 2nd edition 2018.
9. Die Reformation, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2013. 2nd edition 2017 (transl. into Chinese 2017).
10. Geschichte des mittelalterlichen Christentums, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2012.
11. Thomas von Aquin, Münster: Aschendorff 2009. 2nd edition 2017. 
12. Theologie im Mittelalter, Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 2007. 
13. Martin Luther, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2006. 3rd edition 2017.
14. Wilhelm von Ockham. Gelehrter - Streiter - Bettelmönch, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2003. 2nd edition 2012.  
15. Antichrist und Jüngster Tag. Das Profil apokalyptischer Flugschriftenpublizistik im deutschen Luthertum 1548-1618,   Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus 1999.
16. Geglaubte Wahrheit. Das Theologieverständnis Wilhelms von Ockham, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1995.