The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man - Softcover

Budziszewski, J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1890626279 ISBN 13: 9781890626273

Publisher: UNKNO, 2004

Synopsis

Dr. Budziszewski begins by turning his criticism on himself, examining the foundations of the nihilism of his early career. Describing the political effects of Original Sin, he shows how man's suppression of his knowledge of right and wrong corrupts his conscience and accelerates social collapse. The depraved conscience grasps at the illusion of "moral neutrality," the absurd notion that men can live together without a shared understanding of how things are. After evaluating the political devices, including the American Constitution, by which men have tried in the past to work around the effects of Original Sin, Dr. Budziszewski elucidates the pitfalls of contemporary communitarianism, liberalism, and conservatism.

The revenge of conscience is horrifically manifest today in abortion, euthanasia, and suicide, evils brought about by the pollution of good impulses such as pity, prudence, honor, and love. The way out of this confusion, he concludes, is Christianity, a once-prevalent faith whose troubling memory men now suppress along with their knowledge of the natural law. The political responsibility of Christians is somehow to stir up that memory and that knowledge, a daunting task in a world of sound bites and shouting matches.

About this title

From the Publisher

J. BUDZISZEWSKI, a native of Milwaukee, holds joint appointments in government and philosophy at the University of Texas, where he has taught since 1981. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of South Florida and his doctorate from Yale. Dr. Budziszewski is the author of Written on the Heart: The Case for Natural Law and four other books. His articles have appeared in First Things, National Review, the Journal of Politics, and numerous other journals, and he writes a monthly column for Boundless webzine and World magazine.

About the Author

J. Budziszewski (PhD Yale, 1981) is a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin, where he has taught since 1981. A specialist on the natural law, the foundational moral principles "written on the heart" he is especially interested in the suppression of moral knowledge - what happens when we tell ourselves that we don't know what we really do. The author of ten scholarly books including What We Can't Not Know: A Guide and The Line Through the Heart: Natural Law as Fact, Theory, and Sign of Contradiction, he has also written three books for Christian young people.

Edition details

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1890626279
• ISBN 13: 9781890626273
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184