The Faculty Speaker Series returns with a fresh round, celebrating innovative research by TWU researchers. February's speaker is Dr. Tyler Chamberlain.

Topic: The Intelligence Enlightened by Love: George Grant on Faith and the Liberal Arts

George Parkin Grant (1918-1988) is primarily known for his contributions to Canadian political thought and the philosophy of technology. However, he was also an insightful critic of modern trends in education, especially its predominant focus on skills training and its tendency to encourage disciplinary specialization. This talk will draw on Grant’s 1986 essay “Faith and the Multiversity” to articulate the importance of the Christian Liberal Arts against the backdrop of what Grant calls “the modern paradigm of knowledge.” 

Using Simone Weil’s definition of faith as “the experience that intelligence is enlightened by love,” Grant suggests that the fact-value distinction, and subsequent exclusion of faith from what counts as knowledge, has contributed to the specialization encouraged by modern “multiversities.” His solution is to recover a paradigm of faith, which affirms that the world is a unified whole that proceeds from God’s goodness.

Students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend.