Honoured, & sobered, to be giving a lecture next week at Matthias Corvinus Collegium in Debrecen, Hungary, on "War & the Fate of Europe". We'll reflect on the causes of world wars & prospects for peace in Jan Patočka's Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History.
Jesus seminar at Eötvös Loránd University
Very pleased that my Jesus-seminar at Eötvös Loránd University is "back in 'real presence'" (as a colleague put it), starting today. A face-to-face conversation in a white-walled room is how it's meant to be.
Innocence of Pontius Pilate in National Review (7 March 2022)
Honored to see a column on The Innocence of Pontius Pilate in the pages of National Review. Their critic is unconvinced; so be it. "Judging Pontius Pilate" will run in the 7 March edition; it's online now.
Innocence of Pontius Pilate: A conversation with Nick Spencer in London
Very pleased to be talking to Nick Spencer in London about The Innocence of Pontius Pilate this Tuesday, 15 February, at 12.30pm (Greenwich Mean Time). Do dial in -- https://theosthinktank.co.uk/events/2021/11/25/mixing-religion-and-politics-the-trial-of-jesus-and-the-idea-of-justice…
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
How is it possible that I'm only now hearing about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz? Mexican-Baroque philosopher, poet, & defender of the rights of women & the poor?
New seminar at Eötvös Loránd University: Philosophy & the Gospels
A pleasure to start my new seminar today on philosophy & the gospels at Eötvös Loránd University. "Prophets are not without honour except in their birthplace (patridi)." - Jesus in Mark 6 "Philosophers advise us to leave our own birthplaces (patridon)." - Epictetus in Diss. III
A forgotten problem: Plato & Jesus
A forgotten problem: "The readers & admirers of Plato [have] dared ... to assert that our Lord Jesus Christ learned all those sayings (sententias) of his, which they are compelled to admire & praise, from the books of Plato (de Platonis libris)." - Augustine of Hippo, Doctr. Chr. II.28
“A colossal scholarly achievement”: My new book in Modern Reformation magazine
I'm grateful for a new review of my Hurst & Oxford book in Escondido, California's Modern Reformation magazine. John Ehrett generously concludes: "The Innocence of Pontius Pilate is a colossal scholarly achievement ... an intensely rich and suggestive book." Continue reading here.
George Steiner on the Plato’s Symposium & the Last Supper
Glad to be revisiting two tremendous essays by the late George Steiner -- on Socrates & Jesus (& Nietzsche); & on Plato's Symposium & the Last Supper -- in preparation for a philosophy seminar on the Gospels at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.
Questioning the heart of a city: Kōbō Abe
"For whom does it beat ... this enormous heart of the city that goes on pulsating, not knowing for whom?" - Kōbō Abe, The Ruined Map, 1967