Daniel Zimmerman

About

I am a scholar of Late Antiquity, with a special focus on the relationship between "pagan" Neoplatonism and "Gnostic" Christianity (both "classical" and Valentinian sects). My current dissertation project explores the influence of Plato’s Republic on cosmogonical narratives in the Nag Hammadi library. My dissertation committee is composed of Christine Thomas (UCSB, Religion), Elizabeth DePalma-Digeser (UCSB, History), Anne Starr Kreps (UCSC, History), Geoffrey Smith (UT Austin, Religion, reader), and Voula Tsouna (UCSB, Philosophy, reader).

Other interests include Patristics, Liberation Theology, Latino/a Catholicism, and linguistics and language acquisition.

Fellowships & Awards

President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship, University of California (2025–26)
Ostad Elahi Fellowship 2025–26, Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara (2025)
Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant, University of California (2025)
Birger A. Pearson Award, Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara (2025)
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s Dissertation Fellowship, University of California, Santa Barbara (2025; declined)
U.S. Department of Education’s Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Summer Fellowship for Norwegian (2024)
Max Kade Foundation Fellowship (2024)
Fr. Virgil Cordano One-Year Fellowship (2023)
Service to the Department (2023)
Max Kade Travel Grant (2023)
Dumbarton Oaks Coins and Seals Summer Session (2019)
Rowny Fellowship (2018)
Weiner Prize for Undergraduate Research on Buddhist Practice (2017)
Reginald Foster Scholarship for Paideia Institute’s Living Greek in Greece (2017)

Professional Associations

Conference Activity

(2026) “La raza gnóstica: What Ancient Gnostics Can Teach Us about Resistance and Hope in Times of Persecution” (Forthcoming),The Society of Biblical Literature’s 2026 Annual Meeting
(2026) “Water, Water, Everywhere: The Mimetic Function of Water in the Apocryphon of John” (Forthcoming), The Society of Biblical Literature's 2026 Annual Meeting
(2026) “The Fabulist and the Christians: Aesop’s Fables in Early Christian Literature,” The North American Patristics Society 2026 Annual Meeting
(2026) “The Wisest Trauma: The Gnostic Sophia’s Role as both Object and Agent of Material Suffering,” 2026 Religious Trauma Symposium at Harvard Divinity School
(2026) “The First and Eternal Exile: Evaluating Sophia’s Liminal Identity in ‘Gnostic’ Mythology,” 39th Annual Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Symposium
(2025) “A Tale of Two Cities: Reading Jerusalem as Plato’s Republic,” The Society of Biblical Literature’s 2025 Annual Meeting
(2025) “In the Beginning the Philosopher Created Numbers: Evaluating the Influence of Neopythagorean and Neoplatonic Numerology in Gnostic Cosmologies,” The Society of Biblical Literature’s 2025 Annual Meeting
(2025) “Evaluating the Egyptian Mind in Gnostic Doctrine,” The North American Patristics Society’s 2025 Annual Meeting
(2024) “Shifting Discourses of (Non)Authority in Late Antiquity,” The North American Patristics Society’s Annual Meeting
(2023) “Using Plato’s Republic to Understand Nag Hammadi Cosmogonies,” The Society of Biblical Literature’s 2023 Annual Meeting
(2021) “Victory: Tracing One Symbol’s Numismatic Role from Augustus to Zeno,” 56th International Congress on Medieval Studies
(2020) “Victory: Tracing One Symbol’s Numismatic Role from Augustus to Zeno,” 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Canceled due to COVID-19)

Courses

(Fall 2026) Reader – DANCE 45: History and Appreciation of Dance, UC Santa Barbara
(Fall 2024) Teaching Associate – RGST 127A: Christian Thought and Cultures of the Ancient World, UC Santa Barbara
(Fall 2024) – Private Latin Tutoring
(Fall 2023) Teaching Assistant – FEMST 60: Women of Color: Race, Class, and Ethnicity, UC Santa Barbara
(Spring 2023) Teaching Assistant – ASAM 71 / RGST 71: Introduction to Asian American Religions, UC Santa Barbara
(Winter 2022) Teaching Assistant – RGST 24: Jesus in Comparative Perspectives, UC Santa Barbara
(Fall 2022) Teaching Assistant – EACS 21 / RGST 21: Zen Buddhism, UC Santa Barbara
(Summer (B) 2022) Teaching Associate – RGST 116A: The New Testament and Early Christianity, UC Santa Barbara
(Spring 2022) Teaching Assistant – RGST 63: Witches & Brujxs: Black Magic & (Afro-)Latinx Feminism, UC Santa Barbara
(Winter 2022) Teaching Assistant – RGST 24: Jesus in Comparative Perspectives, UC Santa Barbara\
(Fall 2021) Teaching Assistant – EACS 21 / RGST 21: Zen Buddhism, UC Santa Barbara
(Summer (B) 2021) Teaching Associate – RGST 116A: The New Testament and Early Christianity, UC Santa Barbara
(Spring 2020) Teaching Assistant – RGST 20: Introduction to Indic Civilization, UC Santa Barbara
(Winter 2020) Teaching Assistant – RGST 24: Jesus in Comparative Perspectives, UC Santa Barbara
(Fall 2019) Teaching Assistant – EACS 21 / RGST 21: Zen Buddhism, UC Santa Barbara

Non-teaching Academic Work

Co-Organizer for “Magnifica humanitas: A Symposium on Pope Leo XIV, Artificial Intelligence, and the Beauty of Humanity” — UC Santa Barbara (Jul. 2026–Present)
Editorial Assistant for Christine Thomas — UC Santa Barbara (Jul. 2026–Present)
Department of Religious Studies’ Social Media Coordinator (Sep. 2025–Sep. 2026)
UCSB Religious Studies & Jewish Studies Webmaster (2025–present)
Religious Studies Undergraduate Liaison – UC Santa Barbara (2022–2024)
Research Supervisor – Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program: “Ignored No More” at the University of California, Berkeley, with Diliana Angelova (2020)

Modern Languages

English (native)
Spanish (advanced)
Norwegian (advanced; B2 certified)
Dutch (advanced)
Swedish (advanced)
German (intermediate/advanced)
Irish (beginner)
French (reading)

Ancient Languages

Greek (Attic, Koine)
Latin
Coptic (Sahidic, Boharic)
Old Norse