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O Rosto de Deus
Neste que é um dos livros mais influentes do autor, Roger Scruton analisa o lugar de Deus num mundo desencantado. A sua argumentação é uma resposta à cultura ateísta que vinga nas nossas sociedades, e também uma defesa da singularidade humana.
Scruton refuta a afirmação de que não há significado ou propósito no mundo natural, e argumenta que o sagrado e o transcendente são «presenças reais», através das quais os seres humanos passam a conhecer-se a si próprios e a encontrar tanto a sua liberdade como a sua redenção.
Scruton refuta a afirmação de que não há significado ou propósito no mundo natural, e argumenta que o sagrado e o transcendente são «presenças reais», através das quais os seres humanos passam a conhecer-se a si próprios e a encontrar tanto a sua liberdade como a sua redenção.
203 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2012
76 people are currently reading
1134 people want to read
About the author
Roger Scruton
139 books1,347 followersSir Roger Scruton was a writer and philosopher who has published more than forty books in philosophy, aesthetics and politics. He was a fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He taught in both England and America and was a Visiting Professor at Department of Philosophy and Fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, he was also a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington D.C.
In 2015 he published two books, The Disappeared and later in the autumn, Fools Frauds and Firebrands. Fools Frauds and Firebrands is an update of Thinkers of the New Left published, to widespread outrage, in 1986. It includes new chapters covering Lacan, Deleuze and Badiou and some timely thoughts about the historians and social thinkers who led British intellectuals up the garden path during the last decades, including Eric Hobsbawm and Ralph Miliband.
In 2016 he again published two books, Confessions of A Heretic (a collection of essays) and The Ring of Truth, about Wagner’s Ring cycle, which was widely and favourably reviewed. In 2017 he published On Human Nature (Princeton University Press), which was again widely reviewed, and contains a distillation of his philosophy. He also published a response to Brexit, Where We Are (Bloomsbury).
In 2015 he published two books, The Disappeared and later in the autumn, Fools Frauds and Firebrands. Fools Frauds and Firebrands is an update of Thinkers of the New Left published, to widespread outrage, in 1986. It includes new chapters covering Lacan, Deleuze and Badiou and some timely thoughts about the historians and social thinkers who led British intellectuals up the garden path during the last decades, including Eric Hobsbawm and Ralph Miliband.
In 2016 he again published two books, Confessions of A Heretic (a collection of essays) and The Ring of Truth, about Wagner’s Ring cycle, which was widely and favourably reviewed. In 2017 he published On Human Nature (Princeton University Press), which was again widely reviewed, and contains a distillation of his philosophy. He also published a response to Brexit, Where We Are (Bloomsbury).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 26, 2013
There is something profound about this one. Scruton explains what it means to be a person in a way that I've never heard put before, much less in a way that had even crossed my mind. Behind philosophical ideas of being and consciousness, there exists free will and the gift of existence. Behind will and existence, there lies the idea of the world and life as a gift. And behind the idea of a gift, there exists the the idea of grace, which is only possible if it comes from a person.
Did you get that? The idea of grace presupposes the existence of a person from whom grace comes.
After reading Scruton, I feel clumsy in how I'm trying to describe his meditations on the subject. But there are things here that fit together. When you are face to face with another person, you don't look "at" their eyes, you look "into" their eyes. What you see isn't that person's eyes, what you see is another self. A self is, by definition, free. Being free, love and suffering and sacrifice is possible. It just so happens that there is a metaphysical view on love and suffering and sacrifice. The question then becomes from where does this view derive?
Looking at philosophy, art, architecture, music, neuroscience, linguistics, theology, quantum mechanics, ethics, multi-verse theory, etc., Scruton elegantly weaves together his reasoning into a tapestry here that makes one of the very best books that I've read for a long time.
Did you get that? The idea of grace presupposes the existence of a person from whom grace comes.
After reading Scruton, I feel clumsy in how I'm trying to describe his meditations on the subject. But there are things here that fit together. When you are face to face with another person, you don't look "at" their eyes, you look "into" their eyes. What you see isn't that person's eyes, what you see is another self. A self is, by definition, free. Being free, love and suffering and sacrifice is possible. It just so happens that there is a metaphysical view on love and suffering and sacrifice. The question then becomes from where does this view derive?
Looking at philosophy, art, architecture, music, neuroscience, linguistics, theology, quantum mechanics, ethics, multi-verse theory, etc., Scruton elegantly weaves together his reasoning into a tapestry here that makes one of the very best books that I've read for a long time.
March 10, 2018
O modo como Roger Scruton conduz a reflexão sobre o rosto humano e o sagrado, relacionando-os com a arquitetura e a música, revelam seu brilhantismo na área da estética e sua capacidade singular de correlacioná-la com os anseios profundos da vida humana.
December 5, 2012
"I don't need to emphasize the extent to which our understanding of desire has been influenced and indeed subverted by the literature, from Havelock Ellis through Freud to the Kinsey reports, which has purported to lift the veil from our collective secrets. But it is worth pointing out that if you describe desire in the terms that have become fashionable- as the pursuit of pleasurable sensations in the private parts- then the outrage and pollution of rape become impossible to explain. Rape, on this view, is every bit as bad as being spat upon: but no worse. In fact, just about everything in human sexual behaviour becomes impossible to explain- and it is only what I have called the 'charm of disenchantment' that leads people to receive the now fashionable descriptions as the truth.
Rape is not just a matter of unwanted contact. It is an existential assault and an annihilation of the subject."
-Roger Scruton, The Face of God: The Gifford Lectures 2010, 2012, pgs. 94-95
May 3, 2015
The Gifford Lectures have, for over a century, given my favorite thinkers a chance to talk about whatever they feel like. I'm grateful they gave Scruton a forum. I'd read some essays by Scruton: gentle, reasonable, logical, humane, and a lot of that is because he roots his values in an objective transcendence. He has eyes to see.
The result is this clear and lovely work. His insights on architecture, the human face, environmentalism, our relation with animals, and the dominion of reductionism are splendid. I'll be referencing this work a lot, and am looking forward to reading more of him. This is a book to be grateful for, the kind of needle in a haystack, where substance is more important than style, and so achieves an original style all its own.
The result is this clear and lovely work. His insights on architecture, the human face, environmentalism, our relation with animals, and the dominion of reductionism are splendid. I'll be referencing this work a lot, and am looking forward to reading more of him. This is a book to be grateful for, the kind of needle in a haystack, where substance is more important than style, and so achieves an original style all its own.
January 23, 2015
Scruton is a British philosopher (and organist, actually) and the present title collects his Gifford Lectures delivered in 2010. If you’re unfamiliar with him, Scruton is a traditionalist and an Anglican of a rather antique stamp. He occasionally writes on culture and art for various publications, and he’s worth reading even if you disagree with him.
To summarize a part of his argument here, Scruton takes issue with the overreach he sees in the popular scientific-materialist perspective. Specifically, he believes that purely materialistic explanations of human life and action overlook (and necessarily so) one of the most basic elements of human experience: personhood. This is something I’ve thought about myself, though I’m not sure what to do with it. Scruton may not be sure either; he’s primarily concerned about what we lose when we give ourselves over to purely material, chemical, or behavioralist explanations for human action and agency. We lose a sense of ourselves as the free subjects we really are, and hence of our place in the universe. Scruton:
Where in the world of objects am I? …As a self-conscious subject I have a point of view on the world. The world seems a certain way to me, and this ‘seeming’ defines my unique perspective. Every self-conscious being has such a perspective, since that is what it means to be a subject, rather than a mere object. When I give a scientific account of the world, however, I am describing objects only. …[T]he subject is in principle unobservable to science…because it is not part of the empirical world.
The church organist in Scruton comes out in the following illustration, which I also can’t help sharing:
Every musical person can distinguish melodies from mere sequences of notes. Melodies have a beginning, a middle and an end; they begin and they continue until they stop; they have an individual identity and atmosphere, can be combined and developed according to their inner logic; they can be taken apart, amplified, augmented and diminished. They are the stuff of music and unless you can identify them you will be deaf to what music means. But no science of sound has use for the concept of the melody. As far as acoustics is concerned, melodies are sequences of pitched sounds like any other. Sequences that we hear as melodies are not a different kind of thing from sequences that we hear as meaningless successions, and phenomenal features like tension and release, forward motion, gravitational attraction and sounding through silence don’t appear in acoustics. The concept of melody classifies sounds according to a highly sophisticated human interest, and that interest is an interest in surfaces and signs, not in the physical facts that underpin them. Yet melodies are musical individuals, which endure through change, and can be identified as “the same again.”
Sympathetic as I am to Scruton’s argument, his book is a mixed bag. Though I’ve pulled more accessible quotes above, it’s fairly thick with professor-ese. William James, I think, set the tone for the Gifford Lectures (which he delivered in 1901-02 and collected in his wonderful book The Varieties of Religious Experience): it’s possible to be thoughtful and readable at the same time. Carl Sagan managed a similar lucidity in his Gifford Lectures of 1985. What Scruton wants to say is very interesting and worth serious thought, but I think he could have said it better.
To summarize a part of his argument here, Scruton takes issue with the overreach he sees in the popular scientific-materialist perspective. Specifically, he believes that purely materialistic explanations of human life and action overlook (and necessarily so) one of the most basic elements of human experience: personhood. This is something I’ve thought about myself, though I’m not sure what to do with it. Scruton may not be sure either; he’s primarily concerned about what we lose when we give ourselves over to purely material, chemical, or behavioralist explanations for human action and agency. We lose a sense of ourselves as the free subjects we really are, and hence of our place in the universe. Scruton:
Where in the world of objects am I? …As a self-conscious subject I have a point of view on the world. The world seems a certain way to me, and this ‘seeming’ defines my unique perspective. Every self-conscious being has such a perspective, since that is what it means to be a subject, rather than a mere object. When I give a scientific account of the world, however, I am describing objects only. …[T]he subject is in principle unobservable to science…because it is not part of the empirical world.
The church organist in Scruton comes out in the following illustration, which I also can’t help sharing:
Every musical person can distinguish melodies from mere sequences of notes. Melodies have a beginning, a middle and an end; they begin and they continue until they stop; they have an individual identity and atmosphere, can be combined and developed according to their inner logic; they can be taken apart, amplified, augmented and diminished. They are the stuff of music and unless you can identify them you will be deaf to what music means. But no science of sound has use for the concept of the melody. As far as acoustics is concerned, melodies are sequences of pitched sounds like any other. Sequences that we hear as melodies are not a different kind of thing from sequences that we hear as meaningless successions, and phenomenal features like tension and release, forward motion, gravitational attraction and sounding through silence don’t appear in acoustics. The concept of melody classifies sounds according to a highly sophisticated human interest, and that interest is an interest in surfaces and signs, not in the physical facts that underpin them. Yet melodies are musical individuals, which endure through change, and can be identified as “the same again.”
Sympathetic as I am to Scruton’s argument, his book is a mixed bag. Though I’ve pulled more accessible quotes above, it’s fairly thick with professor-ese. William James, I think, set the tone for the Gifford Lectures (which he delivered in 1901-02 and collected in his wonderful book The Varieties of Religious Experience): it’s possible to be thoughtful and readable at the same time. Carl Sagan managed a similar lucidity in his Gifford Lectures of 1985. What Scruton wants to say is very interesting and worth serious thought, but I think he could have said it better.
November 24, 2023
Religion is usually associated with Marx’s idiom, that it is the opium of the mass. But ironically, it is today’s consumerism and among other ism’s that drowned the modern man into faceless mob. In this volume, Roger Scruton expanded upon the I-You relation written in The Soul of the World. He strived to demonstrate that the modern problem of metaphysical loneliness and defacing of the sacred stemmed from the loss of interpersonal realizations as subjects.
Most of the arguments could be found in the Soul of the World. Building from the conclusions he made in the volume, that the I-You relationship hinted to things eternal, he proceeded to describe the religious life as understood from his perspective.
The metaphysical truth starts with the Kantian transcendental unity of apperception. The locus where all experiences converged forms the I, which could not be found in the world. In fact, the world starts with the I and ended with it. What is music? Is it the sequences of notes or the transcendental quality of the feelings it instilled? Truth is not the attainment of an endpoint from extremity, but a resolution of contradiction. The position of the I ceased to become problematic if we start to think that there is many correct interpretations of the reality. We are neither rational spirit nor animal, we are rational animal; the synthesis of both. Synthesis does not yield to a chimera, but a transcendent, a return to a state of purity. The light assumed to form of refraction only in contact of the world, prior to it, it is whole and united. Just as the light, the I is a transcendent.
Then how does this I stand in the world? Descartes believed that there is only one certain truth, that is the Ego. But what makes us fall in love with the Other, or become entranced with a work of art? Is it the arrangements of the eyes, nose and mouth, or a collection of notes? The presence of the Other also lies in the world of transcendent. It entered our consciousness in its unity as a subject, not an object. It is not an organism that enters our perception, but a whole human. When John pushed Mary, it was not the doing of John’s hands, but John himself. Escaping from the metaphysical loneliness of Descartes, is the waiting realization that there is another I out there in the form of You.
Thus, religion acts as the conduit for the realization of these metaphysical truth. The process of self consciousness is riddled with cycles of conflicts and resolution. The naked realization of an awakening self consciousness comes with a condition of something to be realized on. This process of becoming a self-aware person is perilous, a total anomy would disintegrate the toddler self. This loneliness in the metaphysical journey is then managed and controlled by the institution of elders and laws, derived from the wisdom of the ages. It also provides a useful pedagogical tool that hinted that the birth of a free I can always through the realization of another I in the form of You. And thus lies the rationale, axioms and idioms of filial piety and abnegation in community.
As mentioned above, the end point of everything is not the attainment of an endpoint, but the acquisition of a profound metaphysical truth: resolution of contradictions. This can only come through active participation in the communal life, a toil to search for an acceptance of the existence of the Others as another I. Thus metaphysical peace is not found in self imposed isolation nor in a Faustian individualism, the knight of faith is the one who gained the entire life by living fully, as well described by Kierkegaard.
Because the identification with the transcendental “I AM” begins with the reconciliation of the I-You relation, it is inevitable for one to escape from the burden of collective responsibility. Guilt, shame and remorse are the price of self-consciousness that derived from communal living.
The religious is filled with 2 moments, the moments of communion, and moment of gift. He experiences a deep need for thanks, which he expressed in the form of communal impulse, a recognition from an I to another I, just as God who is “I AM” to him, also an I. And thus he filled his days in a refreshed perspective, with intentions to live life as a gift. Birth is a gift of life, marriages is a gift between two persons etc.
Most of the arguments could be found in the Soul of the World. Building from the conclusions he made in the volume, that the I-You relationship hinted to things eternal, he proceeded to describe the religious life as understood from his perspective.
The metaphysical truth starts with the Kantian transcendental unity of apperception. The locus where all experiences converged forms the I, which could not be found in the world. In fact, the world starts with the I and ended with it. What is music? Is it the sequences of notes or the transcendental quality of the feelings it instilled? Truth is not the attainment of an endpoint from extremity, but a resolution of contradiction. The position of the I ceased to become problematic if we start to think that there is many correct interpretations of the reality. We are neither rational spirit nor animal, we are rational animal; the synthesis of both. Synthesis does not yield to a chimera, but a transcendent, a return to a state of purity. The light assumed to form of refraction only in contact of the world, prior to it, it is whole and united. Just as the light, the I is a transcendent.
Then how does this I stand in the world? Descartes believed that there is only one certain truth, that is the Ego. But what makes us fall in love with the Other, or become entranced with a work of art? Is it the arrangements of the eyes, nose and mouth, or a collection of notes? The presence of the Other also lies in the world of transcendent. It entered our consciousness in its unity as a subject, not an object. It is not an organism that enters our perception, but a whole human. When John pushed Mary, it was not the doing of John’s hands, but John himself. Escaping from the metaphysical loneliness of Descartes, is the waiting realization that there is another I out there in the form of You.
Thus, religion acts as the conduit for the realization of these metaphysical truth. The process of self consciousness is riddled with cycles of conflicts and resolution. The naked realization of an awakening self consciousness comes with a condition of something to be realized on. This process of becoming a self-aware person is perilous, a total anomy would disintegrate the toddler self. This loneliness in the metaphysical journey is then managed and controlled by the institution of elders and laws, derived from the wisdom of the ages. It also provides a useful pedagogical tool that hinted that the birth of a free I can always through the realization of another I in the form of You. And thus lies the rationale, axioms and idioms of filial piety and abnegation in community.
As mentioned above, the end point of everything is not the attainment of an endpoint, but the acquisition of a profound metaphysical truth: resolution of contradictions. This can only come through active participation in the communal life, a toil to search for an acceptance of the existence of the Others as another I. Thus metaphysical peace is not found in self imposed isolation nor in a Faustian individualism, the knight of faith is the one who gained the entire life by living fully, as well described by Kierkegaard.
Because the identification with the transcendental “I AM” begins with the reconciliation of the I-You relation, it is inevitable for one to escape from the burden of collective responsibility. Guilt, shame and remorse are the price of self-consciousness that derived from communal living.
The religious is filled with 2 moments, the moments of communion, and moment of gift. He experiences a deep need for thanks, which he expressed in the form of communal impulse, a recognition from an I to another I, just as God who is “I AM” to him, also an I. And thus he filled his days in a refreshed perspective, with intentions to live life as a gift. Birth is a gift of life, marriages is a gift between two persons etc.
February 24, 2020
"Suffering is made available to God himself by the act of incarnation, and it is the way - perhaps the sole way - in which he can show that he loves us with a humanly intelligible love, by suffering for our sakes."
"When someone enters the moment of sacrifice, throwing away what is most precious, even life itself, for the sake of another, then we encounter the supreme moment of gift."
"We should not be surprised, therefore, if God is so rarely encountered now. The consumer culture is one without sacrifices; easy entertainment distracts us from our metaphysical loneliness. The rearrangement of the world as an object of appetite obscures its meaning as a gift."
"By remaking human beings and their habitat as objects to consume rather than subjects to revere we invite the degradation of both."
Just read the book.
"When someone enters the moment of sacrifice, throwing away what is most precious, even life itself, for the sake of another, then we encounter the supreme moment of gift."
"We should not be surprised, therefore, if God is so rarely encountered now. The consumer culture is one without sacrifices; easy entertainment distracts us from our metaphysical loneliness. The rearrangement of the world as an object of appetite obscures its meaning as a gift."
"By remaking human beings and their habitat as objects to consume rather than subjects to revere we invite the degradation of both."
Just read the book.
October 1, 2013
One of Scruton's best.
April 13, 2024
I suspect that the late Sir Roger Scruton is best known for his conservative political views, understanding, of course, that his conservatism is rooted in Burke and pre-Boris Johnson Toryism. But such a perception, whatever the merits of his political beliefs—which are, in my view, quite defensible if not fully persuasive—should not detract from his philosophical bona fides in any degree. Scruton has published works on modern philosophy, Spinoza, Kant, aesthetics, architecture, music, Wagner, and sex, among other topics. And, as he demonstrates in this book, he’s given very careful thought to God (including impressive acquaintance with the Islamic tradition), faith, community, religion, Christianity and Judaism, and other related topics and themes. His erudition and skillful arguments are fully on display in this book based on his lectures.
If the book could be boiled down to some key points, it would certainly include the four words that underpin this entire enterprise and a great deal of Scruton’s thought: “I,” “you,” “why”, and “face.” In our world, “I, you, and why” emanate from and are most on display in the face. Indeed, each chapter references the face. In the first chapter, Scruton draws a distinction between the world of the natural sciences (of which our species is a part), and the world of human persons, with our expressive faces, words, and symbols. One is a world of explanations via the concept of causation, and the other is a world of meaning, intentions, reasons, plans, goals—and love. We humans live in both worlds.
As I alluded to earlier, Scruton builds this work around what I label his theory of the face, human, natural, and that of God. As to humans, Scruton works from the fact that we humans, for all our reason and thought, are embodied creatures. We are also individuals, with differences and with shared traits. We are immensely social and have developed language, as has no other creature that we’re aware of. Each of us has our own perspective, our self, which, like the horizon, always moves with us. We are both a subject and an object, but we only really know ourselves as subjects. And, as Scruton quotes Kant, we are “both bound and free.”
As subject, we are an “I” that can inquire of another, a “You,” about the “why?” of any action. (Scruton, as one would expect, cites Martin Buber on the importance of “I” and “You” (“Thou”)). This ability to converse with and inquire about one another allows us to make judgments and to hold persons accountable for their actions or failure to act. These factors allow for morals and laws. Our failures to provide adequate accounts of ourselves can (and perhaps should) lead to instances of guilt, shame, remorse, and regret. Recognition, conflict, and cooperation all arise from our encounters with others, the interpersonal. And within this interpersonal realm, we have the potential for dialogue.
Out of interpersonal relations and encounters arise I and You, promises, covenants, and plans. All of these traits and practices are made possible because our “I” is also a self that has continuity over time and that can look forward to the future via imagination and back into the past via memory. These uniquely human traits allow us to act outside of Nature. Scruton notes instances of altruism both in Nature and in humans. He argues that an act such as falling on a live grenade to save one’s fellows isn’t a matter of genetic programming, such as found in ants, but a human choice, based on values and foresight.
Scruton notes that the human face can both reveal and conceal, inform and deceive, according—sometimes—to the will of the individual. And we look to faces, not knees or elbows, for crucial information about the disposition of another. When we see a smile (unique to humans), we may see it as warm and welcoming, or ghoulish and cynical, which can prove crucial to governing our interactions with a person. And the eyes—the eyes are the windows of the soul, as any person in love can attest. Scruton quotes C.S. Lewis that friends stand side-by-side, while lovers are face-to-face. How true.
Scruton entitles one chapter as “The Face of the Earth,” wherein Scruton discusses sacred places and events. Indeed, the applies not just to sacred groves and temples, but to the earth as a whole. (Scruton addresses our treatment of our Earth in spiritual, philosophical, and practical terms in his book from 2012, How to Think Seriously About the Planet: The case for an Environmental Conservatism.) Scruton’s final chapter is entitled “The Face of God.” Scruton addresses the attributes of God and God’s relation to the human world. It’s much too rich for me to recount faithfully here, but suffice it to say that piety, obedience, love, freedom, and sacrifice, are all a part of the discussion, along with the figures such as Richard Wagner and Rene Girard. In this chapter, Scruton notes that only mortals can realize the love that requires sacrifice. So it is.
I always find it hard to write a book such as this one that is written by someone so far above my pay grade in intelligence, learning, and wisdom. But I read challenging books such as this one* because it presses me on vital concerns, such as the meaning and consequence of such vital concepts as love, freedom, persons, subjects, and God, among others. Even if only a little of the author’s wisdom and insight rubs off on me, I’m the better for it—and all of those whom I encounter. And, I expect, anyone else inclined to encounter this book will come away the better for it. Thus, I highly recommend it. And, I hope to continue my encounter with Scruton by examining two more books published by him that arise from two later lectures he gave. We’ll find that they both embellish and expand upon themes raised here: The Soul of the World (2014) and On Human Nature (2017).
*By referring to this book as “challenging” I am referring only to the weightiness of the topics discussed and not to the felicity of the prose nor the clarity of the arguments, both of which are exemplary.
If the book could be boiled down to some key points, it would certainly include the four words that underpin this entire enterprise and a great deal of Scruton’s thought: “I,” “you,” “why”, and “face.” In our world, “I, you, and why” emanate from and are most on display in the face. Indeed, each chapter references the face. In the first chapter, Scruton draws a distinction between the world of the natural sciences (of which our species is a part), and the world of human persons, with our expressive faces, words, and symbols. One is a world of explanations via the concept of causation, and the other is a world of meaning, intentions, reasons, plans, goals—and love. We humans live in both worlds.
As I alluded to earlier, Scruton builds this work around what I label his theory of the face, human, natural, and that of God. As to humans, Scruton works from the fact that we humans, for all our reason and thought, are embodied creatures. We are also individuals, with differences and with shared traits. We are immensely social and have developed language, as has no other creature that we’re aware of. Each of us has our own perspective, our self, which, like the horizon, always moves with us. We are both a subject and an object, but we only really know ourselves as subjects. And, as Scruton quotes Kant, we are “both bound and free.”
As subject, we are an “I” that can inquire of another, a “You,” about the “why?” of any action. (Scruton, as one would expect, cites Martin Buber on the importance of “I” and “You” (“Thou”)). This ability to converse with and inquire about one another allows us to make judgments and to hold persons accountable for their actions or failure to act. These factors allow for morals and laws. Our failures to provide adequate accounts of ourselves can (and perhaps should) lead to instances of guilt, shame, remorse, and regret. Recognition, conflict, and cooperation all arise from our encounters with others, the interpersonal. And within this interpersonal realm, we have the potential for dialogue.
Out of interpersonal relations and encounters arise I and You, promises, covenants, and plans. All of these traits and practices are made possible because our “I” is also a self that has continuity over time and that can look forward to the future via imagination and back into the past via memory. These uniquely human traits allow us to act outside of Nature. Scruton notes instances of altruism both in Nature and in humans. He argues that an act such as falling on a live grenade to save one’s fellows isn’t a matter of genetic programming, such as found in ants, but a human choice, based on values and foresight.
Scruton notes that the human face can both reveal and conceal, inform and deceive, according—sometimes—to the will of the individual. And we look to faces, not knees or elbows, for crucial information about the disposition of another. When we see a smile (unique to humans), we may see it as warm and welcoming, or ghoulish and cynical, which can prove crucial to governing our interactions with a person. And the eyes—the eyes are the windows of the soul, as any person in love can attest. Scruton quotes C.S. Lewis that friends stand side-by-side, while lovers are face-to-face. How true.
Scruton entitles one chapter as “The Face of the Earth,” wherein Scruton discusses sacred places and events. Indeed, the applies not just to sacred groves and temples, but to the earth as a whole. (Scruton addresses our treatment of our Earth in spiritual, philosophical, and practical terms in his book from 2012, How to Think Seriously About the Planet: The case for an Environmental Conservatism.) Scruton’s final chapter is entitled “The Face of God.” Scruton addresses the attributes of God and God’s relation to the human world. It’s much too rich for me to recount faithfully here, but suffice it to say that piety, obedience, love, freedom, and sacrifice, are all a part of the discussion, along with the figures such as Richard Wagner and Rene Girard. In this chapter, Scruton notes that only mortals can realize the love that requires sacrifice. So it is.
I always find it hard to write a book such as this one that is written by someone so far above my pay grade in intelligence, learning, and wisdom. But I read challenging books such as this one* because it presses me on vital concerns, such as the meaning and consequence of such vital concepts as love, freedom, persons, subjects, and God, among others. Even if only a little of the author’s wisdom and insight rubs off on me, I’m the better for it—and all of those whom I encounter. And, I expect, anyone else inclined to encounter this book will come away the better for it. Thus, I highly recommend it. And, I hope to continue my encounter with Scruton by examining two more books published by him that arise from two later lectures he gave. We’ll find that they both embellish and expand upon themes raised here: The Soul of the World (2014) and On Human Nature (2017).
*By referring to this book as “challenging” I am referring only to the weightiness of the topics discussed and not to the felicity of the prose nor the clarity of the arguments, both of which are exemplary.
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July 21, 2023I won’t pretend I tracked 100% with this book (it’s been a bit since I read something so philosophical) or have any incisive remarks to make about it, but there was much I enjoyed in this and some fun connections throughout with other books I’m reading or have read.
“When someone enters the moment of sacrifice, throwing away what is most precious, even life itself, for the sake of another, then we encounter the supreme moment of gift… In the moment of sacrifice people come face to face with God, who is present too in those places where sorrow has left its mark…”
“The consumer culture is one without sacrifices; easy entertainment distracts us from our metaphysical loneliness. The rearranging of the world as an object of appetite obscures its meaning as a gift. The defacing of eros and the loss of rites of passage eliminate the old conception of human life as an adventure within the community and an offering to others. It is inevitable, therefore, that moments of sacred awe should be rare among us.”
(Shout out to Bennett for the rec and loan!)
“When someone enters the moment of sacrifice, throwing away what is most precious, even life itself, for the sake of another, then we encounter the supreme moment of gift… In the moment of sacrifice people come face to face with God, who is present too in those places where sorrow has left its mark…”
“The consumer culture is one without sacrifices; easy entertainment distracts us from our metaphysical loneliness. The rearranging of the world as an object of appetite obscures its meaning as a gift. The defacing of eros and the loss of rites of passage eliminate the old conception of human life as an adventure within the community and an offering to others. It is inevitable, therefore, that moments of sacred awe should be rare among us.”
(Shout out to Bennett for the rec and loan!)
October 8, 2021
An enjoyable philosophical argument about the disenchantment of our world through the objectification of people, our environment, and things. Against this view, Scruton builds up the concept of subjectivity, a way of relating to the world in a revering way.
Although Scruton tries to justify his conservative worldview through the application of these concepts (how couldn't he), this dichotomy - everything traditional speaks to us in a subject-like, meaning-giving manner, and everything modern objectifies and corrupts - is often easy to find unconvincing. Attacking modern architecture, say, by grouping it all in one category just does not do justice to it.
That said, provided we take the political excursions of his argument with a grain of salt, it is a convincing piece of philosophy.
Although Scruton tries to justify his conservative worldview through the application of these concepts (how couldn't he), this dichotomy - everything traditional speaks to us in a subject-like, meaning-giving manner, and everything modern objectifies and corrupts - is often easy to find unconvincing. Attacking modern architecture, say, by grouping it all in one category just does not do justice to it.
That said, provided we take the political excursions of his argument with a grain of salt, it is a convincing piece of philosophy.
May 20, 2023
Immediately added to my top book recommendations.
Perhaps the single most profound point in this book is that the face of God which cannot be physically seen, can only be understood the way a human face is understood. And that is to treat the human face not as an object made up of eyes and nose, ears and mouth.... but as a subject. As a person.
God cannot be found in science any more than a person can be found in science. When looked for through that lens, all we find is objects in a world of objects... Because that's what science is. Science is the study of the cause and affective of objects. But people are not merely objects but subjects as well. Subjects in a world of objects. And it is only when we view people as persons that we will begin to understand who God is and what he is.
The I AM. as Moses encounters him. The subject found in the world of objects.
Perhaps the single most profound point in this book is that the face of God which cannot be physically seen, can only be understood the way a human face is understood. And that is to treat the human face not as an object made up of eyes and nose, ears and mouth.... but as a subject. As a person.
God cannot be found in science any more than a person can be found in science. When looked for through that lens, all we find is objects in a world of objects... Because that's what science is. Science is the study of the cause and affective of objects. But people are not merely objects but subjects as well. Subjects in a world of objects. And it is only when we view people as persons that we will begin to understand who God is and what he is.
The I AM. as Moses encounters him. The subject found in the world of objects.
May 24, 2024
A lot of thought provoking ideas but a bit too high brow for me. The Hegelian philosophy and such often goes over my head. But a few good gems in here. The distinction of the objective or ‘the view from nowhere’ and the subjective or ‘view from somewhere’ and the synthesis of the two as a response to philosophical questions is an interesting one. But also feels like it avoids a lot of the meat of the argument in favour of more high minded claims of virtue and beauty.
Also the concept of the face of things as where the subject shines through and seeing people for the value in themselves was good. And he is spot on to say how our culture has moved away from seeing each other as intrinsic goods but rather instruments to be used. And how this ties into the sacred.
Not a challenging read but requires a certain way of thinking and a recognition of cultural aspects of life.
Also the concept of the face of things as where the subject shines through and seeing people for the value in themselves was good. And he is spot on to say how our culture has moved away from seeing each other as intrinsic goods but rather instruments to be used. And how this ties into the sacred.
Not a challenging read but requires a certain way of thinking and a recognition of cultural aspects of life.
December 17, 2024
I actually really liked this one. Brutha has some fascinating ideas about faces, I-You relationships, and sacred spaces. He also was key in my senior philosophy thesis on emotions.
February 21, 2015
Atheist culture has recently become more mainstream, thanks in part to the success of Richard Dawkins' book, ''The God Delusion''. However, religion does still have a part to play, with Prince Charles urging the United Kingdom to be more tolerant towards faiths other than the Church of England he was raised as part of and even the Prime Minister talking about faith issues. Since 1888, the Gifford Lectures have been given to ''promote and diffuse...the knowledge of God''.
In Spring 2010, the Gifford Lectures were given by Roger Scruton and ''The Face of God'' is the transcript of those lectures. Scruton aims to show that there is still a place for God in modern society. He looks at the atheist view and how it removes God from the world, before looking at how the individual fits in and where the face of God appears in the lives of the individual and the life of the planet.
Although I am much closer to agreeing with Scruton's worldview than I am that of the likes of Dawkins, I did find ''The Face of God'' to be a struggle to read. Scruton is clearly highly educated and his arguments certainly seemed very sound, but I'm not particularly well educated in this area and I found the writing style very fussy and much of the arguments, particularly the philosophical ones early on, went way over my head. When he came to talk about God's place in the world, something I'm a little more familiar with, I found it easier to read, but still a bit of a struggle.
Even allowing for my lack of intelligence affecting how I found the book, the writing style was also a little fussy for my tastes. Even without the knowledge that this was a transcript of a lecture series, this becomes apparent very early on. The word usage feels far more suited to the spoken word than the written on and this proved to be a minor distraction to me. I continually felt as if I should be hearing the book rather than reading it myself.
This made for a very difficult reading experience, although this is the kind of book intended for study rather than as a pleasurable read. But even here, it falls short, as the limits of the arguments, possibly shortened by time constraints for the lecture series, don't really allow for detailed argument. It also seemed slightly lacking in that whilst Scruton argues for God, he seemingly does so without the faith in God that I personally have, which gave the whole book a detachment that didn't sit well with my own position on God. It seems that Scruton's belief in God is based on knowledge more so than faith and whilst the book explored this side of things very well, it didn't go any further than that and didn't coincide well with my personal faith.
The ''Face of God'' is a book really only suited to those who need it as a textbook to argue against an atheist worldview and even then, may not be the best resource available. For those looking to understand faith, it is limited and for someone looking for something to read rather than to study, it's of virtually no use. This isn't to say that the content is not first rate, but much of it didn't fit into my particular sphere of knowledge and given the availability of the original lecture series online in audio form, not something I could recommend.
This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
In Spring 2010, the Gifford Lectures were given by Roger Scruton and ''The Face of God'' is the transcript of those lectures. Scruton aims to show that there is still a place for God in modern society. He looks at the atheist view and how it removes God from the world, before looking at how the individual fits in and where the face of God appears in the lives of the individual and the life of the planet.
Although I am much closer to agreeing with Scruton's worldview than I am that of the likes of Dawkins, I did find ''The Face of God'' to be a struggle to read. Scruton is clearly highly educated and his arguments certainly seemed very sound, but I'm not particularly well educated in this area and I found the writing style very fussy and much of the arguments, particularly the philosophical ones early on, went way over my head. When he came to talk about God's place in the world, something I'm a little more familiar with, I found it easier to read, but still a bit of a struggle.
Even allowing for my lack of intelligence affecting how I found the book, the writing style was also a little fussy for my tastes. Even without the knowledge that this was a transcript of a lecture series, this becomes apparent very early on. The word usage feels far more suited to the spoken word than the written on and this proved to be a minor distraction to me. I continually felt as if I should be hearing the book rather than reading it myself.
This made for a very difficult reading experience, although this is the kind of book intended for study rather than as a pleasurable read. But even here, it falls short, as the limits of the arguments, possibly shortened by time constraints for the lecture series, don't really allow for detailed argument. It also seemed slightly lacking in that whilst Scruton argues for God, he seemingly does so without the faith in God that I personally have, which gave the whole book a detachment that didn't sit well with my own position on God. It seems that Scruton's belief in God is based on knowledge more so than faith and whilst the book explored this side of things very well, it didn't go any further than that and didn't coincide well with my personal faith.
The ''Face of God'' is a book really only suited to those who need it as a textbook to argue against an atheist worldview and even then, may not be the best resource available. For those looking to understand faith, it is limited and for someone looking for something to read rather than to study, it's of virtually no use. This isn't to say that the content is not first rate, but much of it didn't fit into my particular sphere of knowledge and given the availability of the original lecture series online in audio form, not something I could recommend.
This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
May 15, 2021
A profoundly affecting book.
My first encounter with the Gifford Lectures were Gabriel Marcel's 1948-50 Lectures, The Mystery of Being. Reading Scruton, I was surprised to find the same concepts--nearly the same theme!--taken up a half century later. The same depersonalization that Marcel fought against in 1950 had only grown in 60 years to the desacralization that Scruton fights against.
Scruton's account is rooted more firmly in the Modern period of philosophy. He takes a view, at times, that differs from Marcel's, especially with respect to the Hegelian Dialectic. But Scruton's scholarship concerning the relationship between causation and revelation is characteristic of his career: bold, unashamed, convicted, taken with beauty, and above all gentle.
Altogether, the dry and even depressingly non-believing approach taken in the first two or three chapters are worth it for the three final three chapters. The Face of the Person, the Face of the Earth, the Face of God. In these is revealed the mystery of being.
As Scruton argues, the significance of these faces will be lost on many of us. I found myself included in that number. His argument alerted the hope within me that we are wrong, and that there is more in heaven and on earth than the waste with which we surround ourselves.
My first encounter with the Gifford Lectures were Gabriel Marcel's 1948-50 Lectures, The Mystery of Being. Reading Scruton, I was surprised to find the same concepts--nearly the same theme!--taken up a half century later. The same depersonalization that Marcel fought against in 1950 had only grown in 60 years to the desacralization that Scruton fights against.
Scruton's account is rooted more firmly in the Modern period of philosophy. He takes a view, at times, that differs from Marcel's, especially with respect to the Hegelian Dialectic. But Scruton's scholarship concerning the relationship between causation and revelation is characteristic of his career: bold, unashamed, convicted, taken with beauty, and above all gentle.
Altogether, the dry and even depressingly non-believing approach taken in the first two or three chapters are worth it for the three final three chapters. The Face of the Person, the Face of the Earth, the Face of God. In these is revealed the mystery of being.
As Scruton argues, the significance of these faces will be lost on many of us. I found myself included in that number. His argument alerted the hope within me that we are wrong, and that there is more in heaven and on earth than the waste with which we surround ourselves.
February 20, 2020
Another satisfying read by Sir Roger Scruton. This book streamlines many thoughtful topics: where do we find the face of God in our modern society; are humans merely animals; subjectivity versus objectivity; the importance of beauty; do we believe the scientists or is there more to our existence than cause and effect?
Quotable quote from this book:
"God is not a hypothesis to be set beside the fundamental constants and the laws of quantum Dynamics. Look for him in the world of objects and you will not find him, just as you will not find human freedom in a brain scan, the self with a microscope or a sake in the bath."
Quotable quote from this book:
"God is not a hypothesis to be set beside the fundamental constants and the laws of quantum Dynamics. Look for him in the world of objects and you will not find him, just as you will not find human freedom in a brain scan, the self with a microscope or a sake in the bath."
May 20, 2021
O autor apresenta logo no início do livro as dúvidas sobre a existência e manifestação de Deus no nosso mundo, e que ele acredita que o entendimento do conceito do rosto é um caminho para o entender Deus. Para isso, ele explica a diferença entre sujeito e objeto, ou seja, pessoas, almas, seres com consciência versus seus corpos, membros a serem utilizados. Essa diferença é ressaltada pelo rosto, onde um conjunto de olhos, nariz e boca é bem diferente de quem usa essa "máscara". A partir daí ele procura esse rosto no mundo, em paisagens e construções que são mais do que apenas os meros objetos que a compõe. Por fim, leva esse conceito ao ser supremo, que por definição não pode ser explicado com os termos do nosso mundo pois ele o criou. Por isso, ao se fazer carne, Deus assumiu um rosto e transmitiu a sua mensagem de sacrifício.
October 1, 2021
Roger Scruton is amazing with taking somewhat complicated discussions and making them easier to understand while also giving you maybe not the full picture (bc dont wanna break some peoples realitys lol) but most the picture. Highly recommend for people who enjoy religion and philosophy!
August 26, 2024
O Rosto de Deus é um ensaio sobre a presença de Deus no mundo ou, mais precisamente, sobre o nosso afastamento em relação a Ele e como isso é a raiz dos hábitos que desfiguram o mundo (consumismo, procura de prazer, etc.). O livro está organizado em três partes, cada uma abordando temas distintos, mas interligados, sobre a existência de Deus e sobre a natureza humana.
Scruton começa por explorar a existência de Deus e fala-nos sobre como a Sua existência, juntamento com a nossa, pode ser compreendida através de três conceitos: o “eu”, o “tu” e o “porquê”. Ele argumenta que, nós, seres humanos, somos tanto objectos como sujeitos no mundo. Como objectos, somos entidades físicas e contingentes, sujeitas às leis do universo e da natureza. Como sujeitos, possuímos consciência do “eu”, da nossa individualidade, e essa autoconsciência implica a existência do “tu”—o outro. Dessa relação entre “eu” e “tu” surge a intersubjectividade, que dá origem às nossas noções de liberdade e responsabilidade. O “porquê” de Scruton é o elo unificador entre o “eu” e o outro. Não se trata do “porquê” da explicação científica, ou da causa-efeito dos objectos, mas sim o “porquê” das razões que motivam a nossa acção, a pergunta que se faz entre “sujeitos”, e que forma a base da responsabilidade moral. Deus, argumenta Scruton, é pessoa (sujeito) como nós e com quem nos relacionamos não com o “porquê” da explicação, mas com o “porquê” da razão. Procurá-lo ou explicá-lo com o olhar da ciência seria em vão—não o encontraremos. Assim como não encontramos a liberdade humana numa TAC, o “eu” com um microscópio, ou uma “causa” para a acção humana na casa de banho.
Na segunda parte do livro, Scruton elabora sobre o conceito de “rosto”, tanto o humano como o da Terra. Sobre o rosto humano, ele faz uma série de referências a quadros e esculturas clássicas que captam a subjectividade escondida por trás dos olhos, nariz e lábios, mostrando que essas características, mais do que delinearam os nossos traços anatómicos, são janelas de entrada para o sujeito com quem nos relacionamos. Neste capítulo, Scruton aborda diversos temas, como a preocupação dos teólogos do Islão com a representação de ídolos (entendida com uma representação que corrompe o objecto da nossa adoração), o culto que fazemos às celebridades, a objectificação do corpo, e a pornografia como substituto que subverte o desejo por uma verdadeira relação interpessoal.
No capítulo sobre o rosto da Terra, Scruton usa a metáfora do rosto para descrever os objectos que, apesar de não possuírem subjectividade, adquirem características que insinuam o sagrado. É aqui que ele defende a importância da conservação ambiental e critica a maneira como a arquitectura moderna destrói a harmonia dos espaços com que nos relacionamos—edificios que servem apenas de instrumento (e não de significado) e que não podem ficar junto a nada, já que a ideia de “junto” é cancelada pelas suas formas que não são irmanáveis; são antes um assalto à ideia de vizinhança, do eu-tu, de um rosto.
Na última parte, Scruton fala-nos do rosto de Deus, o sujeito que se relaciona com o ser humano a um nível pessoal, de mim para ti. O rosto de Deus é aquele diante do qual nos colocamos, e a quem devemos prestar contas pelas razões que orientam as nossas acções. Scruton sugere que o modo de vida religioso oferece um caminho para enfrentar o nosso crescente sentido de destruição, que surge quando tentamos escapar ao crivo do julgamento.
Bom livro.
Scruton começa por explorar a existência de Deus e fala-nos sobre como a Sua existência, juntamento com a nossa, pode ser compreendida através de três conceitos: o “eu”, o “tu” e o “porquê”. Ele argumenta que, nós, seres humanos, somos tanto objectos como sujeitos no mundo. Como objectos, somos entidades físicas e contingentes, sujeitas às leis do universo e da natureza. Como sujeitos, possuímos consciência do “eu”, da nossa individualidade, e essa autoconsciência implica a existência do “tu”—o outro. Dessa relação entre “eu” e “tu” surge a intersubjectividade, que dá origem às nossas noções de liberdade e responsabilidade. O “porquê” de Scruton é o elo unificador entre o “eu” e o outro. Não se trata do “porquê” da explicação científica, ou da causa-efeito dos objectos, mas sim o “porquê” das razões que motivam a nossa acção, a pergunta que se faz entre “sujeitos”, e que forma a base da responsabilidade moral. Deus, argumenta Scruton, é pessoa (sujeito) como nós e com quem nos relacionamos não com o “porquê” da explicação, mas com o “porquê” da razão. Procurá-lo ou explicá-lo com o olhar da ciência seria em vão—não o encontraremos. Assim como não encontramos a liberdade humana numa TAC, o “eu” com um microscópio, ou uma “causa” para a acção humana na casa de banho.
Na segunda parte do livro, Scruton elabora sobre o conceito de “rosto”, tanto o humano como o da Terra. Sobre o rosto humano, ele faz uma série de referências a quadros e esculturas clássicas que captam a subjectividade escondida por trás dos olhos, nariz e lábios, mostrando que essas características, mais do que delinearam os nossos traços anatómicos, são janelas de entrada para o sujeito com quem nos relacionamos. Neste capítulo, Scruton aborda diversos temas, como a preocupação dos teólogos do Islão com a representação de ídolos (entendida com uma representação que corrompe o objecto da nossa adoração), o culto que fazemos às celebridades, a objectificação do corpo, e a pornografia como substituto que subverte o desejo por uma verdadeira relação interpessoal.
No capítulo sobre o rosto da Terra, Scruton usa a metáfora do rosto para descrever os objectos que, apesar de não possuírem subjectividade, adquirem características que insinuam o sagrado. É aqui que ele defende a importância da conservação ambiental e critica a maneira como a arquitectura moderna destrói a harmonia dos espaços com que nos relacionamos—edificios que servem apenas de instrumento (e não de significado) e que não podem ficar junto a nada, já que a ideia de “junto” é cancelada pelas suas formas que não são irmanáveis; são antes um assalto à ideia de vizinhança, do eu-tu, de um rosto.
Na última parte, Scruton fala-nos do rosto de Deus, o sujeito que se relaciona com o ser humano a um nível pessoal, de mim para ti. O rosto de Deus é aquele diante do qual nos colocamos, e a quem devemos prestar contas pelas razões que orientam as nossas acções. Scruton sugere que o modo de vida religioso oferece um caminho para enfrentar o nosso crescente sentido de destruição, que surge quando tentamos escapar ao crivo do julgamento.
Bom livro.
August 21, 2021
Challenging Presentation of the Religious Outlook
This series of the Gifford Lectures, given at St. Andrews University, present a challenging and original survey of what it is to have faith. He depicts faith as "the face of God" and sees as an exercise of human subjectivity encountering God the subject, who can only be known as subject and not as an object in a world of objects. He insists on the qualitative difference between humanity and animals and sees religion as a response to the presence of God in the world, an activity that is uniquely human. He rejects the idea that human behaviour is just animal behaviour and can be explained in academic anthropological terms. He builds his argument around the unique phenomenon of the human face and claims that the subjectivity of the human face is the norms for meaningful values on both a human and divine level. He contrasts this with the "object" views of modern humanism and scientificism, which desecrates true human values, founded on a relationship with the divine. By way of a discussion on true and false human relationships, rape, pornography, the destruction of the environment, even dehumanising architecture, he outlines by true human and false modern distortions. I personally found these lectures challenging, thought provoking and highly original and faithful enough in their description of religious traditions. They also show how erudite, cultured and informed Roger Scruton was. Some will hate these lectures, trampling as they do on many modern assumptions. No one should ignore them.
This series of the Gifford Lectures, given at St. Andrews University, present a challenging and original survey of what it is to have faith. He depicts faith as "the face of God" and sees as an exercise of human subjectivity encountering God the subject, who can only be known as subject and not as an object in a world of objects. He insists on the qualitative difference between humanity and animals and sees religion as a response to the presence of God in the world, an activity that is uniquely human. He rejects the idea that human behaviour is just animal behaviour and can be explained in academic anthropological terms. He builds his argument around the unique phenomenon of the human face and claims that the subjectivity of the human face is the norms for meaningful values on both a human and divine level. He contrasts this with the "object" views of modern humanism and scientificism, which desecrates true human values, founded on a relationship with the divine. By way of a discussion on true and false human relationships, rape, pornography, the destruction of the environment, even dehumanising architecture, he outlines by true human and false modern distortions. I personally found these lectures challenging, thought provoking and highly original and faithful enough in their description of religious traditions. They also show how erudite, cultured and informed Roger Scruton was. Some will hate these lectures, trampling as they do on many modern assumptions. No one should ignore them.
August 31, 2021
This was an interesting and worthwhile read. Scruton, a philosopher by trade, is for the most part an Enlightenment devotee but has some serious misgivings about materialism as a worldview (the logical endgame of the Enlightenment after the immature phase is over: Deists such as Descartes, Voltaire, etc.). One these misgivings is that materialism has no place in it for Persons (free moral agents). That is either human persons or or the Person Scripture identifies as “I am”... So basically Scruton is an admirer of the Enlightenment (and it’s materialistic origins myth), but isn’t quite at ease with some of it’s repercussions. While Scruton’s background is the Enlightenment, at the end of the book I’d be much tempted to classify him as a Postmodern. I suspect he would have rejected such a classification, but what the heck...
January 26, 2020
A first rate exposition. First half is a typical philosophical/theological summary of God vs science which is boring to read. The second half is where things get real, Scruton marshalled his erudite knowledge of art, history, literature, classical music, architecture, etc to say something fresh and deeply touching. There are bits where he strayed from the main arguments, nevertheless the whole thing is cogently argued. He's like an improved version of Francis Schaeffer, I'm surprised Christians (that I know) haven't really got much into this book. Warning: it gets boring and dense, hence my rating, although it's pretty light for a philosophical treatise
September 14, 2025
The Face of God and the Absence of God
In this book, the many themes of Roger Scruton's work are put together. He was a rare man who while not ompletely agreeing with another saw the value of the other's opinion. One may not agree with all he says, but still be richly rewarded from reading this book. A world that runs from God is taking its direction from what it seeks to deface.
In this book, the many themes of Roger Scruton's work are put together. He was a rare man who while not ompletely agreeing with another saw the value of the other's opinion. One may not agree with all he says, but still be richly rewarded from reading this book. A world that runs from God is taking its direction from what it seeks to deface.
July 8, 2019
A Beautiful and Insightful read. Sir Roger does an excellent job of integrating Katian insights into the work of Traditional Natural Theology, which is baffling feat.
As a committed Thomist, I was briefly offended during some of his more dismissive paragraphs, largely appearing in his last chapter; though, considering the merit of the work of a whole, I maintain a glowing review.
As a committed Thomist, I was briefly offended during some of his more dismissive paragraphs, largely appearing in his last chapter; though, considering the merit of the work of a whole, I maintain a glowing review.
December 30, 2019
Very good, indeed. I'm not sure I can follow him all the way, but there are swathes of brilliance and profundity throughout this. His overall point, that God can be seen and encountered in the human subject, is valuable. The way he framed disenchantment is really good.
September 29, 2021
Philosophically sound and theologically succinct. Roger Scrutiny presented a picture of the 'I' and 'you' that we can all relate too. A picture wherein God itself is part of its bond and its community. He presented it across all areas of our life establishing its relevance and importance
April 9, 2022
Elegantly written defence of the sacred in the world of secularity. Scruton builds an a priori argument that we, the world and God bears a face which is the bridge between the world of objects and the world of subjects.
Read
November 2, 2021Quite excellent.
November 23, 2021
Mais um livro marcante de Sir Roger Scruton. Logo no início do livro e com um raciocínio elegante Scruton consegue desbancar ideias que Darwin e Dawkins levaram anos para elaborar e transcrever. Depois Scruton passa a elaborar sua tese sobre a importância do rosto e seus significados para o homem, a natureza e Deus.
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