Customer Reviews

The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man

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The best and most readable book yet on the cultural freefall of America. With his customary humor and clarity, the good Professor traces the roots of our national rebellion against authority and of the decay of our political system to--well--to our roots.

But he doesn't leave us there, at the fall, with the typical incoherent or impractical solution that so many of the prophet-type writers do today. Nor does Dr. Budziszewski pose his solutions in terms only understandable to the chattering class. Indeed, the value of this book is in the simplicity with which it deals with issues that often become hopelessly complex to the modern mind. Even I could understand it!

I won't give away any of the analysis or the author's proposal of how to deal with the brokenness of society, but suffice it to say that a careful reader will wind up with a clear understanding of the problem, how we got there, and of the way out.

Excellent material highly recommended.

This is an excellent book. Speaking as both a Christian and a political scientist, it's the best single volume I've come across on this subject. Its depth far exceeds books put out by better-known, more-lightweight thinkers (e.g., Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, Rush Limbaugh). There's really no comparison. Budziszewski (!) consistently gets to the heart of the matter. He displays impressive philosophical knowledge and reasoning, without being boring, pretentious, or unintelligible. In other words, the book is interesting, down-to-earth, and understable...while also being brilliant. His even-handed (transcendent) analysis of communitarianism, liberalism, and [yes, even that sacred cow of most evangelicals] conservatism is refreshing. By way of comparison, I'd say that while _Blinded By Might_ (Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson) does a good job of pointing out the dangers of politicizing Christianity, _The Revenge of Conscience_ goes much deeper and comes from a consistently Christian perspective. Cal Thomas may have regrets about his role of blurring the lines between religion and politics, but he continues to uphold the major myths of secular conservatism and to praise its political exponents. If you're receiving direct guidance from the Spirit of God, then maybe you don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows. It could be that the Spirit will use this book to help remove cultural blinders and dispel ideological prejudices. _The Revenge of Conscience_ is so well-written and thought-provoking that people of whatever religious persuasion (or lack thereof) will enjoy the book. It's like nothing else I've read on the subject.

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.

J. Budziszewski's mind is so superior, I can only assume God delights in giving him insight in order to enlighten the reader.

No, this is not a work you can hurriedly consume. You will want to slowly absorb and contemplate each idea as it is presented. It is not for anyone new to philosophy and is in fact the most complex book I have ever read that made complete sense.

The desire to underline every word was a great temptation. The variety in thought is at times a complete cerebral challenge. Your desire to understand the author's thoughts will not allow you to only "briefly" consider them.

My belief in a teacher who appears when you most desperately need one was reinforced even more when not only did this book come into my life, but I met someone who became almost an angel to me.

Not only did my mind travel to places I did not know existed, I traveled to places I wanted to go, had never been and didn't know how to find.

The Revenge of Conscience will answer questions that have been chained in the dungeons of your mind tormenting you until you find the answers. The topics discussed are relevant for today and will bring a greater understanding to those highly controversial subjects both conservatives and liberals debate in their daily existence. He approaches these subjects with sheer honesty, creativity and brilliance.

Budziszewski questions why we would want to rape our own conscience and deny ourselves the pure pleasure of truth. He shows how as a human race, we have far too often suppressed our knowledge of right and wrong. Therefore, corrupting our conscience, causing moral neutrality and social collapse.

He then presents a revealing look at how he thought as a nihilist, then logically shows his path to change. He holds a conversation with the deepest part of your soul in a similar way to how C.S. Lewis speaks truth you instantly recognize. This is not a book you will only want to read once. You may want to study it while having a dictionary and book like: The Story of Philosophy, close by.

In this revelation that we do know the basics of right and wrong, the author also shows why we wish we didn't. He also presents why reason can be perverted by passion, why we pay a high price for our rationalizations and why both liberals and conservatives commit moral errors. This book could not have come into my life at a more appropriate time.

"A great many modern people cling to the protection of views which are not merely false but incoherent; for instance, they dogmatically insist that truth cannot be known, all the while supposing that what they say is true. pg. 144

I now want to read every book J. Budziszewski has written.

~The Rebecca Review

When I picked up this book I was suspicious. I feared the worst. Would this book, like so many others, misrepresent my God in the name of an ideology? So many "Christian" books about politics merely adopt whatever worldly views best mesh with their limited vision of God. These books never seem to notice the falleness of the world. They do not see the flaws inherent in all purely human attempts to "better" the world. This book does not fit this description. This book outlines the depths to which our falleness causes us to stoop. This book stresses the importance of Natural Law and the importance of our response to it. This is a fascinating book which I can heartily recommend to all.

Mr. Budziskewski has a rare ability to make clear truths that have been polluted by our current climate of "learning through sound bites". He has a unique answer to the question "why does society seem to fall apart so quickly and with such force." It seems at times not merely to be crumbling, but rather flying apart at the seams, and traditional answers about right and wrong no longer being taught does not adequately explain the force with which violent immorality seems to be overtaking us. His argument is based on an understanding of God's laws (the most fundamental of which are written on our heart), however he does not use scripture as his sole support. He is able to (in much the same way as C.S. Lewis was) appeal to reason, and simply work through difficult questions until he has reached a logical conclusion. Very clear and precise writing from a brilliant thinker.

"The Revenge of Conscience" is a well written, thoroughly reasoned approach to conscience (and its relation to politics) from a somewhat unique (but conservative) theological position (a position that is neither quite typically evangelical nor quite typically catholic).

Budziszewski is obviously brilliant and his reasoning solid. He defines conscience based upon Paul's description in the book of Romans about gentiles evidencing the "law of God written upon their hearts." He argues that evil is merely the spoiling of the good, and that our God-given conscience, when distorted, may actually reinforce evil instead of restraining it. He exposes the inconsistencies of today's pop value systems and devastates them with pure logic. Ouch!

The reader begins to understand the way those who reject Judeo-Christian values reason. At the heart of this distortion is our fallen condition which suppresses the "law of God written upon our hearts." He refutes the typical Roman Catholic distortion that seems to ignore the suppression of conscience and minimizes the effects of the fall upon human nature; he then contests the opposite imbalance typically held by the reformed position, namely a de-emphasis upon "the law is written upon the hearts" of even the unregenerate.

He addresses the distinction between the church's expectations of fellow believers and the church's expectation of society at large. This then leads Budziszewski to expose the erroneous paradigms proposed by political liberalism and political conservatism. This guy knows how to think, and it is tough to fault his logic.

This is a thought-provoking, deep book that requires readers to think. But it is a stimulating book, well worth the reading. Brilliant.

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.

As a student at the University of Texas at Austin, I hope to take J. Budziszewski's class in the fall. I think this book has not only prepared me well for that, but enabled me to cut through so many of the arguments people make for moral relativism quite easily with Prof. B's tough logic. Inevitably, there will be moral conflict - ultimately, you cannot satisfy a rapist AND his victim. Government is necessary to determine which actions are permissable on the scale of tolerance. I think you could use 1- 10 to illustrate this, with 1 being that we lock people up for life or proscribe the death penalty for doing something and 10 being that we condone and endorse such actions. By placing the word 'tolerance' in this context Budziszewski makes the critical argument that moral relativists have abandoned, that we must be able to exercise moral judgment about goods and evils other than simply 'what is good for society as a whole'. And yes, that means the government does legislate morality, albiet a very simple and primitive one. It is up to the Church (the City of God) to move Man beyond merely not harming his neighbor to loving that neighbor as himself. Government can do some things, Budziszewski argues, but we must always remember that Government is tainted by the Fall of Man like any other human endeavor, and will not be made perfect until the Return of Christ. For now, the best we can do is restore the checks and balances the Founders of this country created, and seek to help leaders who will maintain those structures to deal with the consequences of the Fall. What we have now in this country, Budziszewski says, is a situation where Presidents, Judges and Congressmen repeatedly have abused their power and overstepped their bounds, and only a truly educated and dedicated electorate can help the problem. But the problem will never truly be solved until all of Creation is redeemed, and Budziszewski warns Christians (as Cal Thomas does in Blinded by Might) against confusing Conservative politics with Christianity, or the 'City on a Hill' vision of America proclaimed by President Reagan with the eternal Zion. America will one day pass away, along with this Earth, but the good prof. admonishes us with St. Paul's line that 'our citizenship is in Heaven'.

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.