Herman Paul is a lecturer in historiography and philosophy of history at Leiden University. He also holds a special chair in secularization studies at the University of Groningen. After receiving his Ph.D. in history (with the highest possible distinction) from the University of Groningen in 2006, he spent a year in Princeton as a member-in-residence at the Center of Theological Inquiry. He published a book on Hayden White, a monograph on historicism, and many articles in journals such as History and Theory, Storia della Storiografia, and the Journal of the Philosophy of History. His current research interest revolves around “scholarly selfhood,” that is, the character features, personality traits, and moral or intellectual virtues that were (and are) supposed to contribute to good scholarly performance.