George P. Grant - Minerva's Snowy Owl: Essays in Political Theology

George P. Grant (1918-88) was one of Canada's premier political philosophers and stands as the benchmark for the Red Tory Tradition. He can also be credited with introducing the thought of Nietzsche, Heidegger and Simone Weil to Canada, critically analyzing their work seriously for the first time. Grant's Red Toryism has been revived and modified in the UK, but for a look at the essential thought of its chief architect, this book is a must read. Included in this work are essays in political theology, along with previously unpublished letters and classnotes that are critical to an understanding of Grant's 'primacy of the Good' vis-a-vis the 'primacy of freedom-as-mastery.' Especially important is the analysis of his theological relationship to Simone Weil and an appropriation of his work to rise above the culture wars of left and right.Table of ContentsPreface / 1Part 1 - CONVERSION1. George Grant's Conversion Accounts / 52. Simone Weil's Encounter with Christ in Marseilles / 133. Grant's McMaster Sermon / 17Part 2 - THE RISE OF MODERNITY4. Sprouts of Modernity in Medieval Theology / 235. Blooms of Modernity in the Reformation and Calvinist Puritanism / 376. The Autonomous Subject: Knowing as Willing in Descartes, Bacon and Kant / 49Part 3 - MYSTICAL EPISTEMOLOGY7. Etymology of Nous / 658. Heidegger's Eckart / 819. Weil's Mystical Ascent / 85Part 4 - GRANTEAN THEOLOGY10. God the All-Powerful, All-Powerless / 11111. Consent as Coercion / 123Part 5 - GRANTEAN JUSTICE12. Grant's Rhetorical Method / 13113. Christ at the Checkpoint / 141Part 6 - PRIMARY SOURCES14. Previously Unpublished Letters and Journal Entries / 15115. Reading Simone Weil: Unpublished Excerpt / 19916. Dalhousie Classnotes on Plato / 20117. Robin Mathews: The Wave of the Future / 21118. Grant's References to Martin Luther's Thesis 21 / 213APPENDICES19. Grant's Readings in Weil: French and English / 21920. Beyond Dualism: Correspondence with Radical Orthodoxy / 221Abbreviations / 227Bibliography of Sources Consulted / 231