Biography

Franz Xaver Bischof is a Swiss church historian. Born in St. Gallen in 1955, he studied Catholic theology in Lucerne and at the Institut Catholique de Paris. From 1983 to 1989, he was a research assistant at the Chair of Church History at the Faculty of Theology in Lucerne. In 1988, he obtained his doctorate in theology with a thesis on the secularisation of the Hochstift and the subsequent suppression of the diocese of Constance. In 1995, he completed his habilitation at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at Ludwig Maximilian University with a thesis on the theologian and church historian Ignaz von Döllinger and was awarded the venia legendi for medieval and modern church history. In 1996 he was awarded the Habilitation Prize of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. From 1994 to 2004, he worked as a scientific advisor and coordinator of the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland for the Canton of St. Gallen; at the same time, he taught and researched at the University of Munich. From 2004-2006 he was Professor at the Department of Medieval and Modern Church History at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Münster. From the winter semester 2006/07 he was deputy chair (October to December 2006) and from 2007-2021 full university professor (chair holder) for medieval and modern church history at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

In 2008-2013 and 2020-2021, he also headed the Martin Grabmann Research Institute for Medieval Theology and Philosophy as Managing Director. From 2009-2011 he was Dean of Research, from 2011-2013 and 2019-2021 Vice Dean and from 2023-2015 Dean of the Faculty of Catholic Theology at LMU. He was co-applicant and member of the International Research Training Group Religious Cultures in 19th and 20th Century Europe (2009-2018) and co-head of the DFG long-term project Discourse and Community. The writings of Bernhard von Waging in the context of late medieval reform processes. Critical Edition - Indexing - Reconstruction (2013-2022) and director and editor of the DFG-funded edition Briefwechsel Ignaz von Döllinger (1830-1890). English and French correspondence. He has been retired since 1 April 2021. From April 2021 to March 2022, he represented the vacant chair until it was filled.