The Passions in the Platonic Tradition, Patristics and Late Antiquity

The effects of the pandemic this past year have given rise to a plethora of emotions: fear, anxiety, frustration, despair, pain, surprise, sadness. What are we to make of these intense emotions? What do these emotions make of us as individuals and communities? How are we to deal with them moving forward? Do we ignore them, reject them, accept them, transform them? How do they affect religious life and the experience of God?

This interdisciplinary virtual symposium aims to explore how the treatment of the passions in the Platonic Tradition, Patristics and Late Antiquitycan help provide answers to these questions. The symposium will be organized around the study of any emotion arising in the corresponding stages of the pandemic: (1) undergoing forceful SEPARATION at the outbreak of the pandemic, (2) experiencing LOSS during the pandemic and (3) embracing CHANGE as we reimagine a life after the pandemic. How do emotions in these stages affect corporeality, community, lived experience, identity, religious practice?

Contribute: Contributions across disciplines are welcome (philosophy, religious studies/theology, philology, classics, history, etc…). If you wish to present, please send a 300 word abstract including a title, tentative topic, argument, and your affiliation by 15 March 2021. Decisions will be communicated within a week of submission. Presentations will last 15 mins followed by 10 mins of Q & A. The complete program will be published on 1 April, including keynote speakers.

Registration: open to everyone; to register free of charge, please email the contact below. 

Contact: [email protected]