Synopses & Reviews
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), mathematician, physicist, inventor, and religious thinker was a man at odds with his time. The optimism of the Enlightenment and the belief among philosophers and scientists that the universe was both discoverable and rational made them feel invincible. Reason alone, declared the intellectuals, could discover a God of natural religion that was to replace the God of traditional Christianity. Pascal, on the other hand, was not so confident. In his Pensies, he wrote, "The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread." For Pascal, the universe was full of a mystery that went far beyond the powers of reason.Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart, the latest addition to Eerdmans LIBRARY OF RELIGIOUS BIOGRAPHY series, captures Pascal's life and times with a chronicle narrative based on the published sources and Pascal's own works. Marvin O'Connell takes readers on an eloquent journey into Pascal's world, showing the passion that drove the man and the radical spirituality he sought in his own heart. In the process, O'Connell also illumines the social, political, and religious intrigue of seventeenth-century Paris, especially the winner-take-all struggle between the Jesuits and the Jansenists, with whom Pascal himself was allied.Written in an enjoyable style accessible to all, this meticulously researched biography will acquaint readers with the life and thought of Blaise Pascal, a remarkable human being and luminous Christian thinker.
Synopsis
As striking and dramatic as any conversion experience recorded in history are the words of Blaise Pascal found sewn into the lining of his jacket by a servant after his death: "From about half-past ten in the evening until about half-past twelve -- FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars. God of Jesus Christ.
Known as the memorial, these words describing Pascal's "night of fire" are all the more powerful coming from the mind of a genius of Mozartean scale. One of the greatest luminaries of France's grand si cle, Pascal (1623-1662) was a groundbreaking mathematician, physicist, and inventor as well as a profound religious thinker and Christian believer whose random thoughts -- his Pens es -- continue to move thoughtful readers today.
This biography by Marvin R. O'Connell captures Pascal's life and times with a chronological narrative based on the published sources and Pascal's own works. From Pascal's early life as a child prodigy already experimenting in physics at the age of ten to his adult years as one of Europe's leading intellectuals, O'Connell takes readers on an eloquent journey into Pascal's world, showing them the passion that drove the man and the radical spirituality he sought in his own heart. In the process, O'Connell also illumines the social, political, and religious intrigue of seventeenth-century Paris, especially the winner-take-all struggle between the Jesuits and the Jansenists, with whom Pascal himself was allied.
Meticulously researched yet written in an enjoyable style accessible to all, this volume will aptly acquaint readers with the life and thought of Pascal -- remarkable human being, luminous Christian thinker.
Synopsis
This addition to the acclaimed Library of Religious Biography series offers a concise biography of Blaise Pascal, French philosopher, mathematician and physicist
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-202) and index.