About Romulo Ehalt

Rômulo Ehalt is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt am Main. He was a Member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton) from August to November 2025. A historian trained in Brazil (UERJ) and Japan, where he earned his PhD from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (2018) and held a postdoctoral fellowship at Sophia University, his research explores the intersections of law, theology, and the history of the Society of Jesus in early modern Asia. His work focuses specifically on the legal-theological frameworks of slavery and bondage, as well as the development of moral theology and casuistry within the Portuguese and Spanish empires. His work has appeared in leading journals such as Renaissance Quarterly, Journal of Early Modern History, Journal of Jesuit Studies, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, and Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique. Picture: © Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University