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Title: The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man by J. Budziszewski ISBN: 1-890626-27-9 Publisher: Spence Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.71 (14 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Journey from Self-Deception
Comment: In this exceptional work on political ethics and their connection to religion, J. Budziszewski opens with a synopsis of his own transistion from nihilism to Christianity. Using himself as the first example, he pinpoints how we as humans are willing to overlook glaring inconsistencies in our thinking when it enables us to ignore our own corruption by sin. This concept is illustrated by his metaphor on p.141 "pressing down one's conscience does not make it weak any more than pressing down a wildcat makes it docile. It only makes it violent." Through consistently ignoring our conscience, and by the desensitizing forces of our culture, (as well as a slew of other problems detailed in the book), our conscience can be turned into a weapon against ourselves. This occurs when rationalization becomes an escape for facing the moral consequences of our sinful fallenness, and enables us to comfortably commit moral evils.
"Revenge of the Conscience" also makes the important distinction between the "two kingdoms" of Christian theology: the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the world. Budziszewski shows that the civil government and the church have overlapping concerns, but the church should not control politics. Rather, it should serve as a witness and source of admonition to morality. But more importantly Christianity points beyond this fallen world to the life-changing free gift of forgiveness in Christ, which leads to eternal salvation and life in heaven.
The final chapter shows examples of how individuals can draw each other out of self-deception, since "Most defenses of moral evil reflect self-deception rather than real intellectual difficulties. Our main task is to remove the mask from such self-deceptions and bring to the surface what people really know. They will, of course resist. They would rather remain in denial." (140-141) As one of the few books which after I've finished reading, I wanted to immediately read again, I would strongly recommend this book. It is replete with astonishing clarity of thought, and will provoke the reader to intense thought of important issues.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Masterpiece of Christian Psychology
Comment: A number of other reviewers have summarized the general theme of "The Revenge of Conscience," as well as commenting on Prof. Budziszewski's considerable gifts as a writer. In short, his basic thesis is that the underlying cause of many of the battlegrounds in our modern "culture wars" can be traced back to mankind's Fall (i.e. sin) and continuing unwillingness to face the reality and consequences of that Fall.
However, while this book is a classic on its own political/sociological terms, what really struck this writer is how Prof. Budziszewski has - perhaps unwittingly - set forth perhaps the most convincing Christian answer to modern psychology. Most branches of secular psychology, assuming that Man is essentially a complex animal, identify primal needs and urges as the underlying foundation of the personality or soul. A la Freud, the repression of those primal urges, which is necessary for civil society, is also the source of psychological quirks and emotional suffering. By contrast, Budziszewski, viewing Man from the Christian perspective as created in God's image, asserts that one's inner nature is dominated by an innate knowledge of right and wrong, good and evil (i.e. natural law or "conscience"). However, because man is fallen/sinful, that natural knowledge reveals guilt, which man then tries to repress. According to Budziszewski, it is that repression (or denial) of the reality of guilt and sin which results in psychological suffering - and irrational beliefs and actions in response to that suffering.
In a strange way, Budziszewski's Christian perspective turns Freudian psychology on its head. Instead of the animalistic id, we have a divine conscience. Instead of repressing primal urges, we repress the knowledge of our own sin. Instead of ridding ourselves of false guilt, we need to acknowledge and confess our true guilt. These diametrically opposed views of reality clearly illustrate the fact that ideas do matter - that one's knowledge (or ignorance) of reality will have profound effects on individual, societal, and even geo-political levels.
"The Revenge of Conscience," quite simply, has the potential to change the debate in a variety of contexts. It is a masterpiece of "Christian worldview" theory, a powerful treatise in defense of traditional conservatism, a thought-provoking commentary on American politics and culture - a perhaps a foundational work in developing a truly Christian alternative to atheistic psychology.
Rating: 5
Summary: A concise guide to the failures of modernity
Comment: Budziszewski has managed to effectively distill the confusion and dislocation of modernity into a convenient, readable, and short text that should grace the home of any thinking Catholic (or Christian in general). His understanding of the Natural Law and its implications for our lives is easily accessible and deeply persuasive. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking an introduction to the intellectual underpinnings of Christian morality.
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Title: What We Can't Not Know: A Guide by J. Budziszewski ISBN: 189062649X Publisher: Spence Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Written on the Heart: The Case for Natural Law by J. Budziszewski ISBN: 083081891X Publisher: InterVarsity Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: True Tolerance: Liberalism and the Necessity of Judgment by J. Budziszewski ISBN: 0765806665 Publisher: Transaction Publishers Pub. Date: 01 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis by Robert P. George ISBN: 1882926625 Publisher: ISI Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: How to Stay Christian in College: An Interactive Guide to Keeping the Faith by J. Budziszewski ISBN: 1576830616 Publisher: Navpress Publishing Group Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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