"A great asset to Basel"

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LMU President Matthias Tschöp congratulates Martin Wallraff on his election as Rector of the University of Basel.

The current holder of the Chair of Ancient and Global History of Christianity at LMU will take up his new position in Basel on August 1, 2027.

“I am truly happy for Martin Wallraff and wish him every success and good luck in this new role! We are losing one of the most distinguished church historians, but we are gaining a new friend in Basel! I also congratulate the University of Basel on this excellent decision: Martin Wallraff will be a great asset to the university,” says LMU President Matthias Tschöp.

Wallraff has held the Chair of Ancient Church History at LMU since March 2016 and has played a key role in shaping theology at the university. His ties to LMU go back much further: Between 1987 and 1993, Wallraff completed part of his studies in Protestant Theology at LMU, alongside periods of study in Rome and Heidelberg. In 2002, he took on an interim professorship in Church History at LMU for the first time.

His research focuses on ancient church history, the history of ecclesiastical historiography, the history of liturgy, and the analysis and editing of early Christian texts. He is among the leading scholars in these fields and is a widely cited church historian. At LMU, he led the “Paratexts of the Bible” project, which was funded by an ERC Advanced Grant from 2014 to 2020 and developed digital tools for studying medieval manuscripts. He has also served as Dean of LMU's Faculty of Protestant Theology since the winter semester of 2025/26.

Wallraff's move to Basel marks something of a return, as he previously served as a professor at the University of Basel's Faculty of Theology from 2005 to 2016. LMU wishes him much success!