Pub Lecture: A Dialogue Between Platonic and Quranic Traditions
May 16 at 18:30 – 21:30
How do we become virtuous? Is divine connection a path to self-cultivation? What role does cosmic sympathy play in achieving happiness? In this final event, Dr. Bert van den Berg and Dr. Ahab Bdaiwi will explore how Platonic and Quranic traditions address these fundamental human questions.
Dr. van den Berg will examine the Neoplatonic tradition, showing how encounters with Beauty can trigger mystical experiences. He’ll discuss theurgy—practices for purification and divine connection—and how engagement with beautiful texts like Plato’s dialogues facilitates transformation.
Dr. Bdaiwi will focus on the Quran as a primary source, presenting a Quranic philosophy of “beautifying the soul” for spiritual refinement. He’ll demonstrate how this indigenous Islamic framework shares similarities with Greek Neoplatonism regarding spiritual perfection and virtue.
Join us on Friday, May 16th, from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM at Lipsius 2.27 for this event exploring divine unification, self-realization, and symbolic reasoning in these traditions.
– The Education Committee