Prof. Dr. Jan Heilmann

Profile of the Chair
The chair for New Testament II with its focus on the New Testament and Greco-Roman culture deals with the emergence of the New Testament writings and the religious, social and historico-cultural anchoring of early Christianity in the Mediterranean world of the imperial period in research and teaching. In doing so, the professorship continues the tradition of philologically and religio-historically as well as hermeneutically reflected exegetical research that is characteristic of the Munich Faculty of Protestant Theology and complements it with the perspectives of New Philology, material-oriented research, and the Digital Humanities. The chair not only serves as a link between Old Testament studies, patristics, and religious studies, but is also predestined for interdisciplinary exchange with other ancient studies (e.g. within the framework of the MZAW) and cultural studies at the LMU as a whole. The chair contributes constitutively to the research focus of the faculty "Religions- und theologiehistorische Forschung zur Bibel(-rezeption) als Quelle des Christentums und des Judentums".

History of the Chair
The Chair of New Testament II has been a part of the Faculty of Protestant Theology since it was founded at LMU Munich in 1968. The first holder was Prof. Dr. Leonhard Goppelt (*1911–1973), appointed from Hamburg as founding dean, who represented the subject New Testament until his sudden death (1968-1973). His successor (1976–1994) was Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Hahn (*1926-2015), a formative figure in Munich Biblical Studies, who in turn was succeeded by Prof. Dr. Alexander Wedderburn (*1942–2018) (1994–2006). In 2006, as part of university cost-cutting measures, the Chair of New Testament II was transformed into a professorship of New Testament with a special focus on "New Testament and Greco-Roman Culture", held from 2008–2018 by Prof. Dr. David du Toit (*1961), who accepted a call to Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in March 2018. Since May 2021 Prof. Dr. Jan Heilmann (*1984) is holding the professorship.

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