He began studying Music in Düsseldorf in 1988 before moving to Canada in 1990, where he attended University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
[4] Zimmermann began his teaching career at University of British Columbia in 1995 as a sessional instructor in English and German.
He then served as a British Academy Visiting Research Fellow in philosophical theology to University of Oxford from August 2019 to February 2019.
In 2017, while still employed by both Trinity Western and Cambridge universities, he was invited to serve as a visiting professor of philosophy, literature, and theology at Regent College in Vancouver.
[1] Zimmermann's studies originally focused on linguistics as his first degrees and professorial jobs were in the fields of English and German.
He studied early American literature, the Victorian novel, and English poet John Milton while attaining his bachelor's degree.
[7] He published his only German-language work in October 2007, which was titled Theologische Hermeneutik: Ein Trinitarisch-Christologischer Entwur (in English: Theological Hermeneutics A Trinitarian Christological Draft).
He drew inspiration from the works of Irenaeus, Augustine of Hippo, Henri de Lubac, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
[12] His works have also included influences from Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Hans Urs von Balthasar.