Member

Hartmut Leppin

Projects and positions at the research center
Principal Investigator

Project management: “Religious Violence” in Historical Perspective | Research Focus 3 – Fragmented Orders: Social Cohesion under Conditions of Radical Plurality

Funding period 2012-2017
Project management: Imperial Politics and Spaces of Religions in the 3rd Century | Research Field 2

Funding period 2007-2012
Project management: Biblical Justification Narratives in Late Antique Environment – the Role of Imperial Women | Research Field 2

Subject areas
History

Main research
Christianity, Greek history

  • Biografische Angaben

    2021-23: Vice Dean of the Department of Philosophy and History

    Since 2021: Long-term project “A Historical and Theological Commentary on John of
    Ephesus”

    2021: “Humanities international” prize

    Since 2020: Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Historische Kolleg

    2019-2022: Board member at the Leibniz ScienceCampus “Byzantium between
    Orient and Occident” Mainz / Frankfurt

    2019: Member of the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.)

    Member of the Accademia Ambrosiana

    Erwin Stein Prize

    2017/8: Member of Panel SH 6 of the ERC

    2015/6: Fellow of the Faculty of Classics and Robinson College in Cambridge / UK

    Since 2015: Member of the Board of Trustees of the Historisches Kolleg München

    Since 2015: Chair of joint DFG-NCN and DFG-ANR meetings for the entire field of humanities and social sciences

    2015-2023: Head of the Leibniz Prize project “Polyphony of Late Antique Christianity”

    2015-2018: Sub-project leader in the CRC 1095 “Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes”

    2015-2016: Founding spokesperson of the SFB 1095 “Discourses of Weakness and
    Resource Regimes”

    2015: Leibniz Prize

    2014-2021: Involved in the “Personnel Decisions” research group

    Since 2013: Member of the selection committee for the Karl Christ Prize

    Since 2012: Involved in the GK “Theology as Science”

    Since 2011: Member of the advisory board of Ceraneum (Lodz)

    2011: Approval of a Koselleck project “Christianizations in the Roman
    Empire”

    Since 2008: Various ad hoc reviews for the DFG (SFBs, FORs, KFGs, etc.)

    2008-2016: Member of the Scientific Commission of the Union of the Academy of Sciences and Humanities

    2008-2016: Member of the review board “Ancient Cultures” at the DFG

    Since 2008: Full member of the German Archaeological Institute (Berlin)

    Liaison lecturer of the German National Academic Foundation

    2008: Call to the University of Cologne (rejected)

    Since 2007: Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Frobenius Institute (Frankfurt / Main)

    2007-2019: Principal Investigator of the Cluster of Excellence “Formation of normative
    orders”

    2007-2017: Member of the Commission for Ancient History and Epigraphy (Munich)

    2007-2011: Senator of the Goethe University

    2007: Member of the German Archaeological Institute

    Appointment at Humboldt University Berlin (rejected)

    2005-2014: Involved in the IGK “Political Communication from Antiquity to the Present”

    2005-2008: Project leader in the research group “Knowledge culture and social change”

    2005-2007: Dean of the Department of Philosophy and History

    Since 2001: Professor (C 4 / W 3) of Ancient History in Frankfurt / Main

    2001: Call to the University of Hanover (rejected)

    1997-2001: Heisenberg-Stipendium

    1996/97: Feodor Lynen Scholarship

    1995/6: Representative of the Chair of Ancient History Greifswald

    1995: Habilitation in Ancient History, FU Berlin

    1990-1995: Research assistant at FU Berlin

    1990: Dr. phil., Marburg

    1989: Scholarship from the DAAD

    1988: 1st state examination, Marburg

    1982-1988: Studied history, Latin and Greek in Marburg, Heidelberg and Pavia

    Scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation

  • Publikationen

    Auswahl

    Leppin, Hartmut, 2021: Finding a Common Cause. Fourth Century Discourses on Rulership, in: Philip Forness / Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer / Hartmut Leppin (Hg.), The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Mediterranean World and Neighbouring Regions (Millennium Studies 92), Berlin / Boston, 39-64.

    Leppin, Hartmut, 2022: Paradoxe der Parrhesie. Eine antike Wortgeschichte, Tübingen.

    Leppin, Hartmut, 2023: The Early Christians. From the Beginnings to Constantine. Cambridge.

    Leppin, Hartmut, 2024: Frühchristliche Gräber und soziale Anerkennung, ZThK 121, 19-47.

    Leppin, Hartmut 2025: From Constantine to Justinian, in: Joëlle Rollo-Koster u.a. (Hg.), The Papacy I. Two Swords, Cambridge, 56-80.

    Leppin, Hartmut 2025: Multilingualität und Recht in der Spätantike, Rechtsgeschichte / Legal History 33, 18-35.

News from the research center

Event
24.09.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Die neuen Warlords. Gewaltdynamiken einhegen / Friedensgutachten 2026

Book Presentation

Die imperialistische Großmachtpolitik ändert die Vorzeichen von Krieg, Frieden und Sicherheit. Staaten agieren zunehmend wie Warlords und setzen Krieg als Mittel der Politik ein. Übergänge von Gewaltkonflikten zu Frieden werden als „Deals“ behandelt, Mittelmächte wie die Golfstaaten treten mit neuem Selbstbewusstsein, aber ambivalentem Kurs auf, und technologische Innovation verändert Kriege und erschwert die Regulierung. Zugleich befindet sich die internationale Kooperation in der Friedenssicherung – etwa in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit oder in den Vereinten Nationen – in ihrer schwersten Krise. Innenpolitisch nehmen auch in Deutschland rassistische Einstellungen zu. Das Friedensgutachten 2026 analysiert Optionen, dennoch Frieden zu fördern.

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Publication
15.07.2026 | Monograph

Das Recht der Gewalt. Warum Waffen allein keinen Frieden schaffen

Simon, Hendrik (2026): Das Recht der Gewalt. Warum Waffen allein keinen Frieden schaffen. Ditzingen: Reclam.

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Publication
10.07.2026 | Anthology

Schnittstellen im Gesundheitsrecht

Kießling, Andrea (Hrsg.) (2026): „Schnittstellen im Gesundheitsrecht“. Nomos.

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News
19.06.2026

International symposium honours the lifework of Jürgen Habermas

On Friday 19 June 2026, the Research Centre Normative Orders, in collaboration with Suhrkamp Verlag, paid tribute to the late Jürgen Habermas with an international symposium at Goethe University Frankfurt.

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Publication
13.06.2026 | Monograph

Identitätsbasierte Führung: Vom ICH zum WIR. Als Führungskraft gesunde und leistungsstarke Gruppen, Teams und Organisationen fördern

van Dick, Rolf; Kratzer, Benedik E., Steffens, Niklas K., Kerschreiter, Rudolf (2026): „Identitätsbasierte Führung: Vom ICH zum WIR. Als Führungskraft gesunde und leistungsstarke Gruppen, Teams und Organisationen fördern“. Springer Berlin.

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Publication
28.05.2026 | Monograph

Rethinking World Order: Political Ordering as Global Ecology

Hellmann, Gunther; Jacobi, Daniel (Hrsg.) (2026): „Rethinking World Order: Political Ordering as Global Ecology”. Bristol University Press

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Publication
21.05.2026 | Working Paper

EU Law’s Future in a Fraying International Legal Order

Armin von Bogdandy (2026)

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Publication
19.05.2026 | Journal article

Inclusive messaging from leadership reduces discriminatory attitudes and norms: A mixed-methods social identity analysis of a fitness facility

Cruwys, Tegan; Rathbone, Joanne. A.; Quayle, Anika; Butalia, Radhika; Hardacre, Stephanie. L.; van Dick, Rolf (2026): „Inclusive messaging from leadership reduces discriminatory attitudes and norms: A mixed-methods social identity analysis of a fitness facility”. In: British Journal of Social Psychology, 65.

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News
18.05.2026

New Video Podcast Series "Our Planet, Our Health"

With "Our Planet, Our Health", a new video podcast series about questions of global health justice has launched. The series is hosted by Dr Romina Rekers as part of the Global Health Justice Postdoctoral Programme (GHJ), founded by the Höpp Foundation.

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