Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal's Pensees

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 341 pages
• Published by: Ignatius Press October 1993
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0898704529
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0898704525
• Book Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 15.5 ounces

Book Description
Peter Kreeft believes that Blaise Pascal is the first post-medieval apologist. No writer in history, claims Kreeft, is a more effective Christian apologist and evangelist to today's uprooted, confused, secularized pagans (inside and outside the Church) than Pascal. He was a brilliant man--a great scientist who did major work in physics and mathematics, as well as an inventor--whom Kreeft thinks was three centuries ahead of his time. His apologetics found in his Pensées are ideal for the modern, sophisticated skeptic.

Kreeft has selected the parts of Pascal's Pensées which best respond to the requirements of modern man, and offers his own comments on applying Pascal's wisdom to today's problems. Addressed to modern skeptics and unbelievers, as well as to modern Christians for apologetics and self-examination, Pascal and Kreeft combine to provide a powerful witness to Christian truth.

Reader Reviews
I am a fan of both Kreeft and Pascal. I think some other reviewers have hit on many of the same reasons I like this book, but here's my own take. First of all, there was a philosophical movement in Europe at the turn of the 18th century called the Enlightenment. No single wave of thought can take as much credit for influencing the modern world as the Enlightenment. That movement was a tidal wave that swept up every major philosopher for the last three hundred years. Pascal was one of the only thinkers not swept up in the powerful riptides of that "revolution." One of my favorite quotes in the book is that Enlightenment tries to do "life itself as a science." Yet Pascal knew that man was not the measure of all things, but a twisted contradiction of greatness and wretchedness. Herein I believe, lies much of his insight; he is not a strict Enlightenment idealist. Rather, Pascal is a philsophical and theological realist who brought his bluntness and passion to the fields not only of philosophy, but science and math. Pascal was fortunate enough to brandish insights in all of these disciplines. My favorite parts of his thought, however, correspond to his philosophy. These insights were the "Pensees," his thoughts. I think every Christian should know "The Wager" argument by heart. It is brilliant. Everything to lose and everything to gain; life often revolves around the choices we make and the corresponding benefits or harms that result. Pascal is almost what you get when you try to blend the strengths of Augustine and Aquinas; a passionate minister (Augustine) mixed with the masterful logic of the Summa (Aquinas) rolled into one neat package. He was not a Cartesian dualist who saw mind and body as separate. Rather, Pascal realized that heart and soul live in the same body, at odds with one another, yet neither ever totally conquering the other. Also, Pascal is what I would have called in my college days as a philosopher a "non-dry" thinker. That is, Pensees goes down a lot easier than Nichomachean Ethics because it is more accessible and heartfelt. Argument is shrouded in vernacular expression, passion is not seen as antithetical to the cause of strengthening an already sound position. I highly recommend this book, Kreeft has some good commentary that helps simplify the very complex "Thoughts/Pensees" of one of the most brilliant thinkers ever. Comment | | (Report this)