Jeffrey Dirk Wilson

Dr. D. Jeffrey Dirk Wilson

Doctor of Philosophy, School of Philosophy of The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 2009. Before turning to the philosophical life, he was a minister of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (1979-2007) and served as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in York, Pennsylvania (1983-2004). He also served as President of the County Council of Harford County (1990-94). He taught philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland (2007-09). In 2007, he was received into full communion with the Catholic Church. He holds degrees from Bowdoin College, Union Theological Seminary (New York), Oxford University, and The Catholic University of America. In addition, he has studied at Hamburg University, University of Edinburgh, and University of Paris (X) at Nanterre.

  • Collegiate Associate Professor (formerly Clinical Associate Professor), The School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America, 2015-present.
  • Non-Resident Fellow, Instituto de Filosofía Edith Stein (Granada, Spain), 2021-present.
  • Clinical Assistant Professor, The School of Philosophy of The Catholic University of America, 2009-2015.
  • Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, St. Mary’s Seminary and University, School of Theology, winter-spring 2013.
  • Lecturer (full-time), Mount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, Maryland, 2007-2009.
  • Lecturer, The School of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 2005-2006, fall 2006.
  • Member, Presbyteries’ Cooperative Committee on Examinations for Candidates of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 2001-2007.
  • Teacher, Carpathian English Summer School, Ukrainian Catholic University: July, 1998.

  • Ancient Greek Philosophy

  • Classical Metaphysics

  • Political Philosophy Ethics

  • Lecturer Development Grant, The Catholic University of America: 2019.
  • Aristotle Prize, Metaphysical Society of America: 2009.
  • Pastoral Study Grant from the Louisville Institute for the project, “The Contemplative Congregation: Moving Monasticism Out of Doors”: 2000.
  • Hitchcock Prize in Church History, Union Theological Seminary: 1979.
  • Roothbert Fellow: 1978.

Academic (Philosophy)

Edited Book:

  • Mystery and Intelligibility: History of Philosophy as Pursuit of Wisdom. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021.

Book Chapters:

  • “Gorgias as Reductio ad absurdum Argument: Socrates, True Politician but Failed Teacher?” In Liberty, Democracy, and the Temptations to Tyranny in the Dialogues of Plato. Edited by Charlotte C. S. Thomas. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2021: 171-193.
  • “Introduction: Mystery and Intelligibility.” In Mystery and Intelligibility: History of Philosophy as Pursuit of Wisdom. Edited by Jeffrey Dirk Wilson. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021: 1-29.
  • “Wonder and the Discovery of Being: Homeric Myth and the Natural Genera of Early Greek Philosophy.” In Mystery and Intelligibility: History of Philosophy as Pursuit of Wisdom. Edited by Jeffrey Dirk Wilson. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021: 82-109.
  • “Pinocchio and the Puppet of Plato’s Laws.” In Civic Republicanism, Enlightenment and Modernity: Ancient Lessons for Global Politics. Edited by Geoffrey Kellow and Neven Brady Leddy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016: 282-304.

Articles:

  • “A Proposed Solution of St. Thomas Aquinas’s ‘Third Way’ through Pros hen Analogy.” Philotheos 19/1 (2019): 85-105.
  • “Wonder and the Discovery of Being: Homeric Myth and the Natural Genera of Early Greek Philosophy.” The Review of Metaphysics 70/3 (March 2017): 411-33.
  • “Plato’s Educational Paradigm Shift: From Authority to Dialectic.” In Proceedings of the 2016 3rd International Conference on Education, Language, Art and Inter-cultural Communication (ICELAIC 2016). Edited by Eric McAnally et. alia. January 2017.
  • “A Consideration of Roland Barthes’s The Pleasure of the Text: From an Erotics to an Agapics of Reading.” International Philosophical Quarterly 56, no. 4 (December 2016): 469-86. Online First: https://www.pdcnet.org//pdc/bvdb.nsf/purchase?openform&fp=ipq&id=ipq_2016_0056_0004_0469_0486&onlyautologin=true
  • “Plato on Homer: Heroic Liars and the Concept of Injustice in Hippias minor.” Bulletin of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Philosophy Series 2016, No. 2 (Summer 2016): 95-101.
  • “Vico’s Metaphysics of Poetic Wisdom.” Clio 41, no. 3 (Summer 2012): 339-58.

Encyclopaedia Entries:

  • “Being.” Revision of article originally by Ralph Matthew McInerny. New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-13: Ethics and Philosophy. Ed. Robert L. Fastiggi. 4 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2013.
  • “Distinctions, Kinds of.” Revision of article originally by John Joseph Glanville. New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-13: Ethics and Philosophy. Ed. Robert L. Fastiggi. 4 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2013.
  • “Scientism.” Revision of article originally by Edward Quinlisk Franz. New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-13: Ethics and Philosophy. Ed. Robert L. Fastiggi. 4 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2013.

Academic (Theology)

  • “St. Aelred of Rievaulx’s Model of Spiritual Friendship as a Paradigm for Ecumenical Conversation.” In Friendship as an Ecumenical Value: Proceedings of the International Conference Held on the Inauguration of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies (Lviv, 11-15 June 2005), edited by Antoine Arjakovsky and Marie-Aude Tardivo, 157-167. Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic University Press, 2006.
  • “Husbandry: A Treatment of Genesis 1:24-31,” The Register 3/2 (2001): 76-81.
  • “Preaching as Pastoral Care.” In Beside Still Waters, edited by J. Stephen Muse, 157-180. Macon: Smyth and Helwys, 2000.
  • “Reformed Christians: Quo Vadamus?” The Register 2/1 (2000): 73-76.
  • “Telling Time By Prayer.” Pastoral Forum 15/1 (1997)
  • “The Dawning Silence.” The Expository Times 97/6 (March 1986): 173-74.
  • “The Prayer of Naked Living.” The Expository Times 93/1 (October 1981): 20-21.
  • “The Integrity of John 3:22-36,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 10 (1981): 34-41.

Book Reviews:

  • Lucas, George. The Ordering of Time: Meditations on the History of Philosophy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020, The Review of Metaphysics 75/1 (September 2021):150-152.
  • Rosemann, Philipp W. Charred Root of Meaning: Continuity, Transgression, and the Other in Christian Tradition. Grand Rapids, MI: William Eerdmanns Publishing Company, 2018, The Review of Metaphysics 72/4 (June 2019) : 807-808.
  • Wilford, Paul T. and Kate Havard. Athens, Arden, Jerusalem: Essays in Honor of Mera Flaumenhaft. Lanham,MD: Lexington Books, 2017, The Review of Metaphysics 72/2 (December 2018) : 403-404.
  • Verene, Donald Phillip. Metaphysics and the Modern World. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2016, The Review of Metaphysics 72/1 (September 2018) : 157-158.
  • Verene, Donald Phillip. Vico’s “New Science”: A Philosophical Commentary. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015, The Review of Metaphysics 70/4 (June 2017) : 795-797.
  • Verene, Donald Phillip. Moral Philosophy and the Modern World. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2013, The Review of Metaphysics 68/2 (December 2014) : 448-450.
  • Widder, Nathan. Political Theory after Deleuze. New York: Continuum, 2012, The Review of Metaphysics 67/3 (March 2014) : 672-674.
  • Thomas L. Cooksey. Plato’s “Symposium”: A Reader’s Guide. New York: Continuum, 2010,The Review of Metaphysics 65/1 (September 2011) : 150-152.
  • Steven Berg. Eros and the Intoxications of Enlightenment: On Plato’s “Symposium”. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010, The Review of Metaphysics 64/3 (March 2011) : 625-627.