Personalia
Chris Jedan, born in Oberhausen, Germany, in 1970. Ph.D. from University of Bonn. Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at University of Groningen.
Fellow (1 Sept 2016 – 31 Jan 2017)
Resilient Lives: Rethinking Ancient Perfectionism
Project Description
Whether we like it or not, death is becoming a question of choice. While the concept of a ‘fulfilled life’ (voltooid leven) is used regularly—in particular in order to advocate autonomous choice in respect of end-of-life questions—the important underlying issue has received relatively little scholarly attention: When and how can a life be ‘fulfilled’ or ‘complete’?
This is a question on which a very different time from our own, Greco-Roman Antiquity, has a lot of stimulating and highly provocative things to say. The project analyses two closely related fields of ancient literature, where the question of the completeness of life takes central stage: (1) ancient consolations for death (letters and treatises which tried to assuage the grief incurred by loss) and (2) treatises on old age (which consoled for the limitations of old age and, prospectively, for death).
Selected Publications
– C. Jedan, Metaphors of Closeness, Reflections on Homoiôsis Theôi in Ancient Philosophy and Beyond, in: Numen 60 (2013), 54-70
– C. Jedan, Troost door argumenten: Herwaardering van een filosofische en christelijke traditie, in: Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 68/1&2, 2014, 7–22
– C. Jedan, Constellations of Value: European Perspectives on the Intersections of Religion, Politics and Society. LIT: Zurich 2013