Dr. Daniel Tolan

Areas of specialization:

Early Christianity, Late Antique Philosophy, the Platonic Tradition

Areas of competence:

Philosophy of Religion, Ancient Philosophy

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Dr Daniel J. Tolan is a Fellow at The Polansky Academy for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences at The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He is scholar of late antique thought and spirituality, with a focus on early Christianity and the Platonic tradition. Prior to taking up this Fellowship, he was a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Platonism, where he was the Centre’s inaugural Academic Secretary, and where he remains the Senior Principal. He received his MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity as a member of Clare College, and his MA from Yale University. His publications can be found in the Harvard Theological Review, Vigiliae Christianae, The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, and Studia Patristica.

Publications:

Articles

Tolan, Daniel, ‘Μέσος ὑμῶν ἕστηκεν: Origen’s Four Definitions of μέσος and His Application of John 1:26 to Theological Anthropology’, Vigiliae Christianae (Open Access; Advanced Article). https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10050.

Tolan, Daniel, ‘Ὁ Θεὸς ἔρως ἐστί: Origen and the Attribution of ἔρως to God’, The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition (Open Access; Advanced Article). https://doi.org/10.1163/18725473-bja10024.

Tolan, Daniel, ‘The Flight of the All-One to the All-One: The φυγὴ μόνου πρὸς μόνον as the Basis of Plotinian Altruism’, Harvard Theological Review (vol. 114, issue 4 [2021] 469–490). (Open Access) https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816021000316.

Tolan, Daniel, ‘Origen’s Refutation of the Divine Ideas in Περὶ Ἀρῶν II 3.6 as the Emergence of “Neoplatonism”’, in Studia Patristica CXI, M. Vinzent (ed.), Leuven: Peeters (2021), pp. 125-136.

Chapters

Dillon, John and Daniel Tolan, ‘Ideas as Thoughts of God’, in A.B. Hampton and J.P. Kenney (eds.), Christian Platonism: A History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, pp. 34-52. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108590341.003.

Tolan, Daniel, ‘The Impact of the ὁμοούσιον on the Divine Ideas’, in P.G. Pavlos, L.F. Janby, E.K. Emilsson and T.T. Tollefsen (eds.), Platonism and Christian Thought in Late Antiquity, London: Routledge, 2019, pp. 129-150. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429440465.