Philosophy Sharing Gozo is inviting the public its next talk, which will be on – Jesus Philosophies – a pathfinding talk by Dr. Mark Montebello.

Dr Montebello said that, “we in the west must have some kind of personal relationship with the figure of Jesus. Our civilisation disallows otherwise.

“However, the relationship of each and every one of us probably varies from any other, and would have changed in itself over time.

“This makes out Jesus to be quite a contentious and possibly provocative figure. Which might mean that, once one cannot get rid of him completely (at least because the lives of others are beyond our control), one must decipher Jesus figure in one’s own way.

“The result is as good as any other. A Jesus made to measure, perhaps. A Jesus that works, certainly.”

He explained that in this talk three major philosophical understandings of Jesus will be briefly presented. Those of Kant, Nietzsche and Hegel. “They seem to be the Jesus philosophies which influenced our time and age the most. Exploring them might shed some light on your own relationship with Jesus.”

Mark Montebello has been closely examining the Jesus theme for many years (and is still looking). Commanding some knowledge of philosophy, he is fond of defining it as the art of controversy (and makes his best to give it its due).

Dr. Mark Montebello is a Dominican priest, a writer and a philosopher. He studied Philosophy and Theology at the College of St. Thomas Aquinas, at Tal-Virtu with Peter Serracino Inglott, and at the University of Malta.

From these institutions he obtained the Lectorate in Philosophy and Theology and his Bachelor of Theology. He later obtained the Licentiate and the Doctorate of Philosophy from the Angelicum University in Rome, (Italy), and he then started another Doctorate in Philosophy at the University Complutense of Madrid, in Spain.

Dr. Montebello embarked on an academic career when, between 1991 and 1993, he was Professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at the Institute of Religious Studies, University of Malta.

At the same time he was a Reader in Thomastic studies, along with Peter Serracino Inglott and John Haldane. In 1996 he became a Visiting Lecturer of Maltese Philosophy at the University of Malta.