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Making Sense of It All: PASCAL and the Meaning of Life

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There comes a point in almost everyone's life when they ask themselves, "What does it all mean?" Blaise Pascal, the French scientist, mathematician, and philospoher reached this point at the age of thirty-one, when he converted to Christianity, and began writing down a number of his thoughts on the meaning of life and the defense of his new-found faith. Pascal died before he could organize and publish his Pensees ("thoughts"), but fortunately for us modern readers, many fine editions have been edited and published through the years.

Tom Morris, a former philosophy professor from Notre Dame, examines Pascal's thoughts on the meaning of life, utilizing his witty and entertaining sense of humor. Morris writes for the everyday man, not just philospohers and theologians, making this book especially useful for high school and college age persons who are examining their lives and seeking to make sense of it all.

So go ahead, take Pascal's wager and bet on Morris's little book to bring you both enlightenment and joy.

[Other excellent editions of Pascal's Pensees are offered by Os Guinness (The Mind on Fire) and Peter Kreeft (Christianity for Modern Pagans) - both are recommended if you want more perspectives on Pascal.]

Morris explains and expounds upon Pascal's thought in an easy to read manner. A apologetic work in the line of G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis.

Pascal is an example of a brilliant scientific mind who found it very reasonable to believe in God, or more specifically a Christian God. Morris, through Pascal, shows that faith and reason can take you farther than either can alone. A great thought provoking book for the person seeking understanding of those hard questions.

One addendum to the reviewer of May 9, 2000 who said "Pascal was a Jansenist, the Roman version of a Catholic":

Jansenism is named after Cornelius Jansen, who was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ypres in the early 17th century. His main work, Augustinus, was published after his death. In this work, he claimed to have rediscovered the true teaching of St. Augustine concerning grace, which had been lost to the Church for centuries.

Jansenism was never approved of by the Roman Catholic Church, and while Pascal had several Jansenist friends, and wrote in support of their cause, it is questionable whether he himself was a Jansenist. Morris addresses this issue in pages 8 & 9 of this book.

I would highly recommend this to those who's quest for the truth brings them to ask the tough questions about Christianity. For fans of C.S. Lewis, Morris lays out a Christian argument through the writings of Pascal's Pensees. Although only 200 pages, It will take time to reflect upon Morris's comments. Morris weaves his considerable knowledge of apologetics with the deceptively simple yet insightful positions of Pascal. As Morris states, "In this book I want to explore with Pascal those most important questions for getting our bearings". A must read.

While teaching philosophy at Notre Dame Thomas V. Morris published some books which reward careful study. I know little about him, though he was reared in the South, involved in Campus Crusade for Christ, graduated from the University of North Carolina, and took advanced degrees from Yale University. He brings to his works a refreshing enthusiasm and scholarly richness which rewards his readers and reminds us that solid Christian thinkers of the first rank still flourish.
Making Sense of It All: Pascal and the Meaning of Life (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, c. 1992) is the most accessible of the publications I've read. "When you stop to think about it," he says, "life can be very confusing" (p. 1). Given that reality, we need good guides to show us how we should live. Blaise Pascal, Morris insists, is one of the greatest guides, attuned to our concerns though he lived 350 years ago. Pascal was, of course, one of the most brilliant thinkers in human history. Making original contributions in mathematics (on his own he replicated Euclid's geometry at the age of twelve and wrote a ground-breaking treatise on conic sections four years later) and science (inventing the first calculating machine, the forerunner of today's computers), he became a fixture of France's intelligentsia. Then, "on the night of November 23, 1654, at the age of thirty-one, Pascal had a profound and deeply moving mystical experience that dramatically turned him around, reorienting all his priorities" (p. 9). He met God. He met the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . . . God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Immersing himself in spiritual concerns, Pascal, during the next eight years, jotted down notes for a theological treatise he planned to write--an explanation and defense of the Christian faith which he hoped would appeal to unbelievers. Tragically, he died at the age of 39, leaving us only the loosely organized collection of thoughts, his Pensees, one of the greatest and most quotable of Christian classics. These thoughts, Morris thinks, may guide us to our own awakening, our own discovery of life's meaning. Pascal incessantly prods us to ponder life's great questions. How misspent, he thought, is the life of one who slides along without seriously attending to life's essence. Our bored indifference to ultimate realities, timeless truths, is surely our greatest flaw. As he viewed it, "This negligence in a matter where they themselves, their eternity, their all are at stake, fills me more with irritation than pity; it astounds and appalls me; it seems quite monstrous to me" (p. 23).
Monstrous is a good label for it! It's like hoarding pennies while using thousand dollar bills for cooking fuel! We who teach philosophy and theology, of course, almost daily face the same apparent indifference Pascal condemned! (It is at least consoling to realize folks were equally unmoved in Pascal's day!) I've often been mystified by the interest students show in some trivial campus event compared to their frequently bored response to questions concerning heaven and hell, death and immortality! If we don't just ignore ultimate issues, however, we find ways to keep our minds on other things. Diversions fill our waking hours and dull our minds to the possibilities of more important things. No writer, in my experience, better dissects this malaise. "'Being unable to cure death, wretchedness and ignorance," he wrote, "men have decided, in order to be happy, not to think about such things'" (p. 31). What he'd have said about our media-dominated culture, where as Neil Postman suggests we're "amusing ourselves to death," one can only imagine! But it's clear that many of us seek shelter from reality by making sure we're forever immersed in noise and activity.
Beyond trying to shock us to think more seriously, Pascal sets forth ways to do so. He strug¬gles to discern what makes life meaningful, what makes life good. Such questions cannot be reduced to scientific inquiry with empirical data and logical proofs. Thinkers who seek to make metaphysics or theology purely rational, endeavoring to "prove the existence of God," for example, forever fail simply because they take the wrong approach. They fail to remember Aristotle's wise advice to always use the right methodology when approaching a given realm of reality.
Christians, of course, use reason--Pascal did it with the best--but they know there's more to reality than reason, that some realms of reality need to be encountered through other means. As Pascal said: "'We know the truth not only through our reason but also through our heart. It is through the latter that we know first principles, and reason, which has nothing to do with it, tries in vain to refute them'" (p. 82).
Thus we know God, who is largely hidden from us, more through the heart than the head. As he explains it: "'What can be seen on earth indicates neither the total absence, nor the mani¬fest pre¬sence of divinity, but the presence of a hidden God. Everything bears this stamp'" (p. 94). God, and the meaning of life, become known to those who truly seek Him. He does not reveal himself to the intellectually able who demand He conform to their standards. Indeed, he re¬marked, "'Pius scholars rare'" (p. 37). Would that were not true! Bit we who seek truth in the realms of scholarship often get ensnared in our own hard¬ened mental vises--vises which become vices in time!
No, God comes to those who welcome Him, those who open their hearts to Him. "'Truly religious people must humble themselves in the worship and obedience of a creator they do not see'" (p. 146). He comes to those who are willing to bet their lives on the truth of His Being. Thus we must understand Pascal's famous "wager," whereby he challenges us to risk believing in God, to dare to commit ourselves to the living truth that God-in-Christ unveils reality and assures immortality. This grows out of his insistence that we encounter God in our hearts, not our heads.
To find meaning in life, of course, we must understand not only truth about God but truth about ourselves. Addressing the nature of human nature, Pascal recognized both the dignity and depravity of man. He celebrated man's uniqueness, with his capacity to think and act. But he also recognized how tragically flawed, how abominably sinful we are. Only the Christian religion, he argued, properly appreciates both aspects of human nature. Involved somewhat with the Jansenists of his day, he was profoundly influenced by Augustine, taking a somber view of humanity, and attacked the Jesuits of his day who minimized the enormity of sin. But he never slipped into the dark pessimism of those Reformed theologians who stressed the utter total¬ity of human depravity.
Though I've focused almost exclusively on Pascal, the focus of Morris's Making Sense of It All is much more than an scissors-and-paste collage of quotations with transitional comments and explanations of the French genius. To show how contemporary are the issues Pascal raised, Morris injects illustrations ranging from Tolstoy's novels to Woodie Allen's movies. This book is a marvelous illustration of a gifted teacher at work: introducing students to one of the greatest philosophers, making his ideas clear and relevant without compromising the essence of his positions.
Arthur Holmes says "This book deserves the kind of popularity C.S. Lewis's apologetic writings have earned," which is high praise from a respected evangelical philosopher. While I would demur from lifting Morris to Lewis's level, I am genuinely impressed with this book.

I love Pascal. I probably quote him in my own theological work more than anyone else. Thus, I figured I would either love this book or absolutely hate it. I feared Pascal would get butchered and misconstrued as he so often does. Well, I loved it. Dr. Morris captures the essence of Pascal's thought and deftly weaves it with the insights of other great thinkers and also into practical application for our lives. This book will enrich your mind and spirit, deepening your walk with God.

Making Sense Of It All is one the best books I have ever read on the topic of Christian philosophy and apologetics. This book is unique both in its organization and content. Morris utilizes some of the scientific, philosophical, and apologetic statements of the great Christian thinker Blaise Pascal (from Pascal's book Pensees) and shows how faith in Jesus Christ is the unique answer to mankind's deepest yearnings for meaning, purpose, significance, and life eternal. This book skillfully and successfully answers many of the existential objections that people give for not believing. Morris weaves together many of Pascal's brilliant insights into a significant and powerful Christian apologetic work.

Though covering a lot philosophical and theological ground, this book is remarkably readable and at places quite humorous. It addresses philosophical, theological, and apologetic issues with tremendous clarity and in an engaging style. This volume provides deep insight into why people living in today's world avoid thinking about ultimate issues. I only wish the book contained a bibliography and/or notes for further reading.

Thomas V. Morris has been called one of Christianity's finest contemporary philosophers (former Notre Dame professor). This book is indeed evidence of his first rate philosophical ability.

It's not easy to amaze or impress a veteran apologist, but in this volume analyzing the work of "Pensées" by Blaise Pascal, Thomas Morris found himself consistently challenged by the mathematician's penetrating arguments. In "Making Sense of It All," Morris professes that "Pensées" gives "scintillating and profound reflections" (p. 2). He admits that this "is not a book about Pascal" (p. 2) but it is a book about what `"Pensées' is about" (p. 2).

Pascal was a child genius and a devout believer in Christ. Pascal's Pensées is widely considered to be a objet d' art, and an preeminent work of French literature. Historian Will Durant opined: that the "Pensées" is the the "most eloquent book in French prose." In "Pensées" the philosophical genius propounded Pascal's Wager. He formulated his wage because he believed that the metaphysical proofs for the existence of God are so remote from reasoning and so involved that they make little impact" (p. 656).

Hence he proposed that "Either God is or he is not. But which view shall we be inclined? Reason cannot decide this question" (p. 111). He presses the application of this contention with his formula:
"(probability X payoff) - cost = expected value" (p. 112).
Pascal added that evidence for God's existence is "at least equal to the evidence of the contrary" (p. 114). Furthermore affirming God's existence is "attractive because it promises true good" (p. 145). His devotion is expressed as he states "clarity together with such simplicity is wonderful" in Jesus Christ (p. 168).

Chapters include:

- Need for a Guide
- Folly of the indifferent
- Waging a life
- Marks of truth
- Faith and the heart and more (210 pages).

This is a stellar introduction into Pascal's "Pensées" and is written in an appealing and flowing style.
The Necessary Existence of God: The Proof of Christianity Through Presuppositional Apologetics

This is a great book, which takes diverse sources such as Pascal and Woody Allen and probes the reasons why most of us waste our lives on trifles and baubles, distracting ourselves from our mortality and avoiding life's big questions. The book is part fun, part serious as it makes Pascal's inquiries into human nature very readable. The Christian and nonChristian alike should enjoy this study of how people waste their lives and how they can find meaning. Two great companions to this book, though more secular, are Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning and Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving.

i bought this book after i had heard a presentation by the author based on the book. the author/speaker will not disappoint the inquisitive reader. the views of pascal are presented in a manner understandable to the average reader . a phd in philosopy is not required to enjoy this book.

Tom Morris is a gifted writer and philosopher. This book amplifies Pascal in ways you may not have thought about before, and it clearly intriques the critical mind about the possibility of the Truth behind Christianity. The leap from mind to faith doesn't seem all that large after reading this enticing book.