Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart (Library of Religious Biography Series) [Paperback]

Mr. Marvin R. O'Connell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 1997

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 Pensees, 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

O'Connell (emeritus, history, Notre Dame) creates a context for understanding brilliant mathematician and mystic Blaise Pascal. The physical and intellectual environment of Pascal's 17th-century France come alive in this well-written work. Especially effective is O'Connell's analysis of the Jansenist controversy, in which Pascal was deeply involved and which profoundly influenced his thought. Although the book contains no footnotes, an eight-page bibliographic essay indicates that the author drew on an array of secondary sources as well as the standard published primary sources. Recommended for collections in religion and in French history.?Linda V. Carlisle, Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (July 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802801587
• ISBN-13: 978-0802801586
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,016,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for Context and Analysis, January 30, 2001

By 

J. P. Johnson (Ewing, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart (Library of Religious Biography Series) (Paperback)

I found this biography of Pascal enjoyable and very good for context and analysis. It is difficult to understand Pascal without a good grasp of the religious controversies at this time troubling Paris and the spiritual persons to whom Pascal felt close. For that reason, you may feel a little bogged down at first by explanations of theological and historical matters seemingly unrelated to the man. Bear with the author, because you will need to know these things in order to fully appreciate the passion and bravery (not to mention the substance) of Pascal's latter writings. There is excellent analysis here of Pascal's "Night of Fire" -- the 2nd, dramatic conversion to an intense fervor of Christianity -- as well as of his apologetic _Pensees_. The discussion of the _Pensees_ is just a taste, and after reading this book you will want to obtain a copy. There is so much more to Pascal than this book has room to tell, but it is a good general introduction, serious and somewhat scholarly, but reliable and not recklessly speculative. The picture that emerges is of a first-rate intellect deeply and emotionally touched, changed by an encounter with God.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Intro to Pascal for Americans, July 18, 2005

By 

Charlus (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart (Library of Religious Biography Series) (Paperback)

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662,) along with Michel de Montaigne, has always incarnated the French ideal of the introspective intellectual, the man of thought engaged with the vital questions of his time, the theorist of existence fearlessly involved in life's choices. He has been a key figure to Christian and secular thinkers alike, both for his deep psychological insights into man's inner workings-his own-as well as keen analysis of what goes into said man's options. Pascal is to French culture what Jonathan Edwards and Carl Jung, rolled into one, are to American culture.

Pascal's dense, rich analytical prose has been a decisive influence in the language of personal expression, in French and therefore in all language. Existentialism and psychoanalysis owe much to Pascal, who was, himself, a passionately committed Christian moralist. Largely ignored in the 18th Century, and known only to a few French intellectuals in the 19th, Pascal came to the fore in the 20th: the century of the conscious and the subconscious.

Marvin Richard O' Connell writes a præternaturally clear, entertaining, unpretentious short biography, suitably aware of the necessities of the dumbed-down, but never condescending. Ethical controversies in 17th Century France are eminently complicated to non-specialists, but O' Connell manages to keep things going with utmost confidence and gusto; no mean feat. He avoids the severity of French intellectual prose, but never sounds banale. A fine contribution.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Description of Pascal's Theology!, May 3, 2008

By 

Nyghtewynd (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart (Library of Religious Biography Series) (Paperback)

Not a bad introduction to Pascal's life, but be forewarned: this is not a beginner's book. The author dives deeply into the details of Pascal's and the Jansenists' theology, so if you're just looking for the basic facts you're not going to like this one. Still, there's a good introduction into his thinking and writing here with a lot of historical and theological background included.