Hugo Anthony Meynell (23 March 1936 – 1 October 2021)Meynell was an English academic, author and Christian rationalist.
Academic career Born in Meynell Langley, Derbyshire, England, half a year after the death of his father, Captain Godfrey Meynell, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for action against Afghan raiders in India's Khyber Pass,The Times, London, Saturday, 5 October 1935, p. 18 and The Times, London, Friday, 27 December 1935; pg. 7; Hugo grew up as a member of an English family which arrived in England with the Norman conquest of England.Burke's Landed Gentry, London: Shaw Pub. Co., 1937 His mother was Sophia Patricia (but known as Jill) née Lowis.
He was educated at Eton and at King's College at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained his PhD. After completing his graduate work Dr. Meynell taught at the University of Leeds before moving to the University of Calgary in 1981. He wrote thirteen academic booksEleven of these are listed in Lumley, p. 1996, the other two are Redirecting Philosophy: Reflections of the Nature of Knowledge from Plato to Lonergan, Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1998; and Postmodernism and the New Enlightenment, Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1999 and numerous peer reviewed articles as well as regular book reviews in the Heythrop Journal and similar publications.Cf. "Hugo Meynell" in Religious and Theological Abstracts
He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Canada in 1993,Lumley 1996, p851; Membership record for Hugo Meynell, Royal Society of Canada and is listed in the Canadian Who's Who.Elizabeth Lumley, ed.,Canadian Who's Who, Toronto, University of Toronto Press 1996, pp. 851.852
Christian Rationalism Meynell described himself as a "Christian Rationalist" in the tradition of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) and Bernard Lonergan (1904–1984), on whose work he has written.Hugo Meynell, "The Theology of Bernard Lonergan", Atlanta, Ga. : Scholars Press, 1986 His numerous books include works on philosophy, psychology, and even music.See his books: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Bernard Lonergan, New York : Barnes & Noble Books, 1976, Freud, Marx, and Morals, Totowa, N.J. : Barnes & Noble Books, 1981, and The Art of Handel's Operas, Lewiston, N.Y. : E. Mellen Press, 1986 A devout Roman Catholic convert, he had an evangelical outlook and sympathy for British and American Protestantism. In his later books he expressed a strong distaste for postmodernism and what he called "academic fads".Cf. Redirecting philosophy: Reflections of the Nature of Knowledge from Plato to Lonergan, Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1998, pp. x-xii Latterly, he was engaged in a study of contemporary atheism.Cf. The Heythrop Journal, Volume 37 Issue 3, Pages 336 - 347
Books Meynell's many publications include: God and the World: the Coherence of Christian Theism, London, S.P.C.K., 1971 An Introduction to the Philosophy of Bernard Lonergan, New York : Barnes & Noble Books, 1976 Freud, Marx, and Morals, Totowa, N.J. : Barnes & Noble Books, 1981 The Intelligible Universe: A Cosmological Argument, Totowa, N.J. : Barnes & Noble, 1982 The Theology of Bernard Lonergan, Atlanta, Ga. : Scholars Press, 1986 The Art of Handel's Operas, Lewiston, N.Y. : E. Mellen Press, 1986 Is Christianity true?, Washington, D.C. : Catholic University of America Press, 1994 Redirecting philosophy: Reflections of the Nature of Knowledge from Plato to Lonergan, Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1998 Postmodernism and the New Enlightenment, Washington, D.C. : Catholic University of America Press, 1999
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