Grant Poettcker, PhD

Associate Professor of Philosophy
To pursue goodness, truth, and beauty as they are unified in Christ is to pursue the pearl of great price. 
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Grant Teaches:
  • Philosophy of Education
  • Ethics and Political Philosophy
  • Christianity and Culture
  • Philosophies of Human Existence

Teaching Philosophy

Philosophy always works best when it unfolds as a dialogical process through which students and instructors seek wisdom together by studying the best accounts of truth, beauty, goodness, and being that have emerged in the philosophical tradition. This makes high demands on everyone involved; interpretive patience and generosity, mental discipline and care, and skill in verbal and written expression. However, the importance and high value of greater understanding makes the effort worth it.

Background

Grant was born and raised in Saskatoon, and joined the faculty at Briercrest in 2013 after completing his Ph.D. at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. His interest in philosophy was kindled during his time studying Bible and theology at Canadian Mennonite University, and the relation between philosophy, theology, and scripture remains one of his abiding concerns. In his teaching, Grant seeks to foster students' awareness of the human traditions of reflection on ultimate value, on belief, knowledge, and truth. He also seeks to show that philosophical thinking is in play not only in technical philosophy books, but in cultural expressions like literature, movies, and even debates on social media.
Grant and his wife Rosalyn attend St. Aidan's Anglican Church in Moose Jaw and have three children, Josiah, Alina, and Ezekiel.

Education

PhD, McMaster University, 2013
MA, McMaster University, 2007
BA (Hons.) University of Winnipeg, 2005
BTh, Canadian Mennonite University, 2002

Research

Artificial Intelligence and Human Thinking
The ethics of Peace and Violence
Post-Liberal Political Theory

Publications

  • Book Chapter: “Nature and Artifice: Pressing (the) Disanalogies between Human Action and Robot Activity.” In Mimetic Theory, AI, and Desiring Machines: Explorations in Technology, Film, Fiction, and Philosophy, edited by Thomas Ryba and Sandor Goodhart. Violence, Desire, and the Sacred. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, 2025.
  • Book Chapter: “Testing the Spirits in Kurzweil’s ‘Spiritual Machines’: The Bondage of a Technological Teleology.” In Technology and Theology, edited by William H.U. Anderson, 55–76. Series in Philosophy of Religion. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2020.
  • Journal Article: “Socrates, Nicodemus, and Zacchaeus: Kierkegaard and Halík on Conversion and Offense.” International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 80, no. 4–5 (October 20, 2019): 482–94.
  • Journal Article: “Reassessing Anselm on Divine Wrath and Judgment: A Girardian Approach for Mennonite Atonement Theology,” in Conrad Grebel Review 32, no. 1 (Winter 2014): 80–90.
  • Book Chapter: “The Messiah’s Quiet Approach: Walter Benjamin’s Messianic Politics,” in Paul, Philosophy, and the Theopolitical Vision, ed. Douglas Harink (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2010): 90-115.