The Soul of the World

A compelling defense of the sacred from acclaimed philosopher Roger Scruton

In The Soul of the World, renowned philosopher Roger Scruton defends the experience of the sacred against today's fashionable forms of atheism. He argues that our personal relationships, moral intuitions, and aesthetic judgments hint at a transcendent dimension that cannot be understood through the lens of science alone.

To be fully alive—and to understand what we are—is to acknowledge the reality of sacred things. Rather than an argument for the existence of God or a defense of the truth of religion, this book serves as an extended reflection on why a sense of the sacred is essential to human life—and what the final loss of the sacred would mean. In short, the book addresses the most important question of modernity: What is left of our aspirations after science has delivered its verdict about what we are?

Key Themes Explored in the Book:

• The Role of Art, Architecture, Music, and Literature: Scruton draws on these highest forms of human experience and expression to explore our religious need and our quest for the being who might answer it. He suggests that this search for the sacred endows the world with a soul.
• Limits of Science:
  • Evolution cannot explain our conception of the sacred.
  • Neuroscience is irrelevant to the interpersonal relationships that model our posture toward God.
  • Scientific understanding offers no insight into the experience of beauty, which provides a God's-eye perspective on reality.

Ultimately, Scruton argues that a world without the sacred would be a completely different world—one in which humans are not truly at home. Yet, despite the shrinking role of the sacred in today's world, he reminds us that the paths to transcendence remain open.