The Beierwaltes Seminars on Christian Platonism, hosted by the Cambridge Centre twice a year, revolve around key concepts of Platonism and their transformation in Christian philosophy from the Alexandrians Clement and Origen to the present day. After reading and discussing excerpts from the work of the eminent German scholar Werner Beierwaltes (translated into English for the first time), both PhD students and postdocs give papers on their current research on Origen and Christian Platonism. Everyone interested in and working on Platonism is cordially invited to take part.
The seminars will take place in the Faculty of Divinity,Lightfoot Room on the 6th of May (4.30 pm - 6.00 pm), while on the 7th of May we will meet in the Clare College, Domus Room(9.30 am - 4 pm).
Please contact
Prof. Douglas Hedley (rdh26@cam.ac.uk), Dr Samuel Pomeroy (pomeroy@uni-muenster.de) or Dr Christian Hengstermann (Hengstermann@uni-wuppertal.de).
VIII. Time and Providence
(6th–7th May, 2022)
From the vantage point of Plato’s Timaeus alone (37d-38b, 39e), there are two possible views of time. In one sense, picked up by figures like Alcinous, time is coextensive with the ‘eternal’ motion of the heavenly bodies. On the other hand, there is an irregular notion of time belonging to the pre-existent cosmos. Aristotle’s famous critique of Platonic dualism fits into this cryptic scheme, for it poses the problem of whether nature is generated according to a succession of episodes—like bad tragedy—or whether the arrangement of the cosmos and its ‘history’ has a single principle. The eighth Beierwaltes seminar will be devoted to recent approaches to the question of time and providence in the Platonist tradition, including the reception of this aporia from ancient Neoplatonists like Origen, Plotinus and Proclus to contemporary religious philosophers, process theologians and French Hegelians. Any paper on the definition of time and history in the Platonist tradition is welcome.
Guest Speaker:
Antonio Vargas (Universidade de Brasília). ‘Providence and the Care of Temporal Beings in Proclus’
6 May, Evening Lecture and Wine Reception
16:30 Arrival
17:00 Lecture and Discussion (Vargas)
18:00 Reception
7 May, Morning and Early Afternoon Seminar
9:30-12:30 Dr. Samuel Pomeroy, ‘Aeon, Angel, and Nation in Erik Peterson’
Respondent Prof. Dougles Hedley
Discussion
Lunch
14:00-16:00 Reading and Discussion of Plotinus, Enn. III 7, 10-11
Werner Beierwaltes, Plotin über Ewigkeit und Zeit (Enneade III 7), Frankfurt am Main 1967
