In this episode, we welcome Dr. Grant Havers to discuss his book Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy: A Conservative Critique. Who is Leo Strauss, and why does he matter? One of the most important and influential philosophers of the twentieth century – Strauss is often seen as unquestionably conservative, committed to the reading of ancient philosophy and the retrieval of ancient wisdom. Strauss even opposes “the triple scourge” of relativism, historicism, and positivism – based on human reason. But is there more to the story? Listen in as Dr. Havers takes us through how Straussians often downplay the role of Christianity in the development of Western Civilization – as well as assume and project secularism into the convictions of the philosophers they read and analyze. Indeed, what Dr. Havers identifies as “the lacuna in Strauss’s hermeneutic” is the pivotal and essential role that Christianity played in shaping “the Anglo-American Tradition” – and this is paired with a tendency to reinvent (and even misrepresent) Plato and Aristotle into something akin to the modern post-WWII Liberal order that actually was the project to which Strauss was dedicated. Do the Straussians truly understand the Greeks accurately? And why are Plato and Aristotle seen as more universal and timeless than Biblical religion? Indeed, can Strauss truly defend the West without a clear and robust commitment to what the Bible has contributed to its uniquely blessed heritage and tradition? We end with Dr. Havers fascinating analysis of what Protestant Christians can both learn and avoid when it comes to even Strauss’ own analysis of the divide between Jerusalem and Athens. Perhaps Strauss’ dualism between the two both honors how uniquely valuable Jerusalem has been to our culture and institutions – but also downplays how great Christian thinkers, such as John Calvin, have not simply reduced the revealed religion of the Bible into fideism and blind obedience. We end with Dr. Havers thoughts about how dependent upon Revelation (that is, the Bible) is Western Civilization, and how is this recognition necessary for any attempt to revitalize it going forward.

Book: Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy: A Conservative Critique

Other resources by Dr. Havers:

- The Medium is Still the Message: Marshall McLuhan for Our Time

- Lincoln and the Politics of Christian Love

Some resources by Leo Strauss:

Bibliography of Leo Strauss

• Liberalism: Ancient and Modern
• Natural Right and History
• Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy
• The City and Man

- “Progress or Return?”

- “Jerusalem and Athens” (also here, and here – and here)

- “On the Interpretation of Genesis” (also here)

- “Persecution and the Art of Writing”

 - Thoughts on Machiavelli

Other resources:

Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America: A Critical Appraisal by Paul Gottfried

The Ancient Economy by M.I. Finley

Karl Marx by William Dennison

In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis by Henri Blocher

The Bible Among the Myths by John Oswalt

The New Science by Giambattista Vico

The Anxiety of Influence; The American Religion by Harold Bloom

Between Philosophy and Religion, Spinoza, The Bible, and Modernity (2 vol.’s) by Brayton Polka

The Origin of Sin by David Konstan