Rating: 
Summary: a spiritual genius
Review: The Pensees place Pascal among the great spiritual geniuses of Christianity. His depth and clarity of thought are remarkable; his devotion unwavering. Pascal's knowledge of the Bible and the church fathers enrich and inform his writing. His skill as a writer is precise (showing his scientific training). This book makes one think.
Rating: 
Summary: one good point
Review: The single redeeming quality of this work is the strength of Pascal's style. He had a mastery of the French language. His religious thoughts, however, leave something to be desired. Pascal proved in his pitiful "wager" argument that he was no philosopher - he should have remained a scientist. If one wishes to read great French prose, one should try Montaigne's essays - they are infinitely more insightful. As for religious or philosophical work, I can not recommend more highly Voltaire or Hume.
Rating: 
Summary: a testament to faith
Review: This book proved to be an excellent one to read right after Galileo's Daughter -- after reading of G's struggle to stay within the bounds of the church (he had no problem with a struggle for faith -- he knew he was right about the sun being at the center), it's refreshing to read of a near contemporary who was much more conflicted. Pascal was one of the great geniuses of all time -- if you study math at all, you'll realize the extend of his scope and reach. His talents crossed into other fields as well. Unfortunately, like Galileo (although I think worse), he was very sickly for much of his life. Sometimes, he could barely get down a "pensee" because it hurt so much to write. No surprise then that many are short jottings or musings on many aspects of Christian faith. One doesn't have to be a Christian to understand one man's struggles to reconcile what he saw in the world around him to his scientific and mathematical discoveries. There are infinite nuggets of wisdom in these pages. Sure, he misinterprets the bible a lot, but he was blazing a trail in criticism of translation that he didn't have primary sources for. Like a Bartlett's book of quotations, this book is best read in small doses or it becomes too much. The book takes the form of many small comments and analysis, a notebook written in shorthand if you will. This translation allows us a look inside one of the greatest thinkers of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Pascal is hard to pigeonhole
Review: This book, representing Pascal's 'pensees', or thoughts, contains many provocative views that have managed to arouse critics from many different perspectives. And while there are several strains of Pascal's thought that I considerably dissent from, it can hardly be denied that in many ways, Pascal's insights into human character as it relates to the divine are not easily dismissed, at least intellectually. Because this work is a collection of thoughts rather than a systematic presentation, which is what Pascal ultimately had in mind but his illness and subsequent death prevented, the reader will likely find Pascal to be quite quotable. There are quite a few 'one liners' in here that are profound to the point of being humorous when one thinks about how insightful his thoughts are. And Pascal, in arguing in favor of the truth of Christianity, makes a very big investment in fulfilled prophecy and the history of the Jews that readers should find interesting. His 8 page discourse on indifference at the beginning of the second section is among the best 8 pages I've ever read and have succeeded in providing a noticeable amount of discomfort for atheists for three centuries now. The portion of Pensees that is the most well known is Pascal's wager argument early in the second section. Personally, this argument, while interesting, is not the most compelling argument he makes and I consider it a shame that the wager argument has really overshadowed what I believe to be Pascal's most provocative argument in favor of the Christian religion - his anthropological argument. While not stated in this manner, section 1 of Pensees spends considerable time developing the notion that the extreme paradox of humanity (as Pascal sees it) of both immense greatness and horrible evil demand an explanation. How can man be both, and what worldview best explains this clear reality? These are the questions that Pascal presents, and he argues that only the Biblical narrative of man from creation forward provides an intelligent framework upon which to explain the human condition adequately. It is a very provocative argument that a number of thoughtful theologians from Groothuis to McKenzie have opined upon quite recently, and it is an argument that deserves extensive thought not just about the Christian religion, but about the very nature of man and whether Pascal's grasp of it is correct or not. I have found that one can take the sketches of the argument put forward by Pascal here and get into some very deep anthropological water that is healthy, even if one ultimately takes issue with Pascal's paradox. Being a Jansenist, Pascal was not as willing as mainstream Roman Catholicism to rely on human reason, believing that man's 'wretchedness' calls such reason into question. As such, the reader will notice that Pascal tends to employ a general polemic against reason, even though he clearly refutes the complete abandonment of reason. But as part of this general polemic, he clearly distrusts natural theology as well as the rationalizations of the philosophers (which is kind of ironic), believing that philosophical rationalizing is ultimately an impediment to faith. It is in these basic areas (and a few others) which I respectfully dissent from Pascal in varying degrees. Pascal intends here to walk a fine line between what he believed to be the logical absurdity of faith in complete contradiction to reason, but also of the bankruptcy as he saw it of reason alone becoming the basis for our faith. In my own reading of the book, my view is that Pascal devoted more energy to dealing with the latter concern than the former. A highly provocative book that has, and will continue to arouse thought and contemplation at the deepest levels.
Rating:
Summary: Pascal is hard to pigeonhole
Review: This book, representing Pascal's 'pensees', or thoughts, contains many provocative views that have managed to arouse critics from many different perspectives. And while there are several strains of Pascal's thought that I considerably dissent from, it can hardly be denied that in many ways, Pascal's insights into human character as it relates to the divine are not easily dismissed, at least intellectually. Because this work is a collection of thoughts rather than a systematic presentation, which is what Pascal ultimately had in mind but his illness and subsequent death prevented, the reader will likely find Pascal to be quite quotable. There are quite a few 'one liners' in here that are profound to the point of being humorous when one thinks about how insightful his thoughts are. And Pascal, in arguing in favor of the truth of Christianity, makes a very big investment in fulfilled prophecy and the history of the Jews that readers should find interesting. His 8 page discourse on indifference at the beginning of the second section is among the best 8 pages I've ever read and have succeeded in providing a noticeable amount of discomfort for atheists for three centuries now. The portion of Pensees that is the most well known is Pascal's wager argument early in the second section. Personally, this argument, while interesting, is not the most compelling argument he makes and I consider it a shame that the wager argument has really overshadowed what I believe to be Pascal's most provocative argument in favor of the Christian religion - his anthropological argument. While not stated in this manner, section 1 of Pensees spends considerable time developing the notion that the extreme paradox of humanity (as Pascal sees it) of both immense greatness and horrible evil demand an explanation. How can man be both, and what worldview best explains this clear reality? These are the questions that Pascal presents, and he argues that only the Biblical narrative of man from creation forward provides an intelligent framework upon which to explain the human condition adequately. It is a very provocative argument that a number of thoughtful theologians from Groothuis to McKenzie have opined upon quite recently, and it is an argument that deserves extensive thought not just about the Christian religion, but about the very nature of man and whether Pascal's grasp of it is correct or not. I have found that one can take the sketches of the argument put forward by Pascal here and get into some very deep anthropological water that is healthy, even if one ultimately takes issue with Pascal's paradox. Being a Jansenist, Pascal was not as willing as mainstream Roman Catholicism to rely on human reason, believing that man's 'wretchedness' calls such reason into question. As such, the reader will notice that Pascal tends to employ a general polemic against reason, even though he clearly refutes the complete abandonment of reason. But as part of this general polemic, he clearly distrusts natural theology as well as the rationalizations of the philosophers (which is kind of ironic), believing that philosophical rationalizing is ultimately an impediment to faith. It is in these basic areas (and a few others) which I respectfully dissent from Pascal in varying degrees. Pascal intends here to walk a fine line between what he believed to be the logical absurdity of faith in complete contradiction to reason, but also of the bankruptcy as he saw it of reason alone becoming the basis for our faith. In my own reading of the book, my view is that Pascal devoted more energy to dealing with the latter concern than the former. A highly provocative book that has, and will continue to arouse thought and contemplation at the deepest levels.
Rating:
Summary: reasonable faith
Review: _One must know when it is right to doubt, to affirm, to submit. Anyone who does otherwise does not understand the force of reason. Some men run counter to these three principles, either affirming that everything can be proved, because they know nothing about proof, or doubting everything, because they do not know when to submit, or always submitting, because they do not know when judgment is called for_
Blaise Pascal found his faith to be the basis of reason. In this collection of his thoughts, the Pensees provide a glimpse of how he may have arrived at this concept. Further, he expresses the impact of this revelation on his own thinking in a way that transcends time and place. People throughout the centuries, some of whom have never known of Pascal's other contributions, have found encouragement in the Pensees.
The introduction by A. J. Krailsheimer provides an excellent background of the life of Pascal and his influences. The argument which Pascal uses to fortify his faith is given a thorough development that provides a course and direction to the otherwise often disconnected thoughts. Professor Krailsheimer points out that Pascal is in a paradoxical position of appealing to reason in order to communicate truths which, on his own showing, are outside its province. The paradox is that only reason can persuade reason of its own inadequacy.
Pascal's starting point is that the temporal world is inadequate to demonstrate eternal truths. Further, Pascal believes that a choice about the eternal is imperative. To leave the decision untested is to actively not decide and to fall into the category of skeptic. Pascal did not hold that ultimate skepticism was possible, maintaining that a _perfectly genuine skeptic has never existed. Nature backs up helpless reason and stops it going to so widely astray._
On the other hand, Pascal does not condone dogmatic acceptance of unsubstantiated presumption. _Is he, on the other hand, to say that he is the certain possessor of truth, when at the slightest pressure he fails to prove his claim and is compelled to loose his grasp?_ Neither certainty not uncertainty can be ultimately proved nor disproved in Pascal's world.
Our friend appears to have painted himself into a corner. Indeed, Pascal has and intentionally so. He appeals to a leap of faith to establish the legitimacy of a faith. Pascal's argument hinges on the concept of prevenient grace. _We shall never believe with an effective belief and faith unless GOD inclines our hearts and we shall believe as soon as he does_ (380).
Pascal's argument benefits from his own miraculous vision that occurred on 23 November 1654. In that experience, he saw the light that guided him the rest of his life; a vision of the Messiah that brought him certainty and joy. This is, at the same time, both the strength and weakness of Pascal's argument.
While I respect the experience of Pascal and others who have witnessed eternity break the temporal barrier, not all of us who faith in the spiritual have this to fortify our convictions. Since there is no way to manufacture such an experience in my own life (neither do I feel that I need to) the type of intensely personal apologetic that Pascal's work represents often strikes a hollow chord.
At the same time, I do find encouragement in Pascal's validation of a personal experience while upholding the certainty that dogma and skepticism will not be silenced. This is the decision to which I am drawn regularly on my spiritual journey as circumstance comes into conflict with my convictions. I agree with Pascal that the capacity to acknowledge a spiritual relationship has its source outside of the temporal realm.
This is the stuff of life. We choose a course without guarentee of the destination. Each step brings us closer if for no other reason than our experience has grown.
Whether or not one chooses to wager on the side of eternity, as Pascal purports as the only sensible bet, I find the Pensees to be important for it's unique position in the then nascent era of Science. Pascal's contemporary, Descartes, at whom Pascal points some of his arguments, took a completely different path to establish his faith. Neither of which provides eternal certainty, and thus, both of which are questions still pertinent for today.
PEACE
Catrina
|
