Reading Plato

Course Description

The Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once observed that "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." While true, Whitehead’s Eurocentric remark fails to acknowledge Plato’s importance also for Eastern philosophy and especially for Eastern Christian thought. Neither Aristotle, nor patristic theology or later idealist philosophies are thinkable without Plato’s influence. The reason for this tremendous influence is the fundamentally theological character of Plato’s thought. After all, early Christian theologians took their cue for the teaching of divinization from Plato’s famous claim in the Timaeus that true happiness consists in becoming godlike (homoiōsis theōi). This course provides students with the opportunity to read closely and discuss the key texts by Plato that have shaped all subsequent discussions in theology and philosophy on what constitutes the good life, virtue formation, the nature of language, of truth, of epistemology, and education of the soul.

Offered	2027 Winter
Dates	Jan 13 - Apr 14
Days	Wed, 09:00AM - 12:00PM
Format	Onsite Only
Credit Hours	3
Audit Hours	3
Room Number	Rm 014

Teaching Faculty

Jens Zimmermann

J.I. Packer Professor of Theology

Dr. Jens Zimmermann was born and raised in Germany. He studied at the University of British Columbia, earning his first PhD in Comparative Literature in 1997. He taught at UBC briefly before moving on to Trinity Western University, where he held the Canada Research Chair of Interpretation, Religion and Culture from 2006 to 2016. In 2010, Jens earned a second PhD in Philosophy from the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. While continuing at TWU, he also served as Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Literature & Theology at Regent College from 2016 to 2019. He was also a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge (Trinity Hall, 2017–2018), and a British Academy Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford (Christ Church College, 2018–2019). He is currently Visiting Fellow at the Center for Theology and Modern European Thought at The University of Oxford.