The Provincial Letters [Paperback]

Blaise Pascal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1997

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers (December 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579100961
• ISBN-13: 978-1579100964
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,715,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read; Humorous and Insightful, August 2, 2001

By 

Dean Brown (Phoenixville, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Provincial Letters (Paperback)

This series of letters by Blaise Pascal has it all; humor, a good guy (Pascal) and bad guys (Jesuits), and a moral.

Pascal wrote these letters in defense of his Jansenist friends who were being branded as heretics by the Jesuits. At the time, the Jesuits were a powerful religious order who basically taught Christianity all over the world.

In the Provincial Letters, Pascal exposes and ridicules the doctrines of the Jesuits, especially the "doctrine of probable opinions". The Jesuits (supposedly) were attempting to update the Christian doctrine to satisfy the lax morals of the modern world. In an attempt to "widen the pipe" to heaven, the Jesuits developed "modern" church doctrine (while ignoring traditional church doctrine, and the scriptures) to compensate for societies lax morals.

Pascal, defender of the faith, effectively ridicules their doctrines and shows their errors.

A word of caution, the letters are difficult going with respect to discussions on the finer theological points of view (how far we have fallen regarding knowledge of our faith). A good introduction will orient the reader to the conflicts and provide information regarding many of the theological discussions (the edition I used did not have an introduction; this one may). However, Pascal's writing is so humorous and engaging that I continued reading even when I was lost in the argument.

I am on record (in another review) as stating that religion should be updated to reflect our modern view of the world. However, these letters point out the danger of attempting to do that. I need to reconsider that approach.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant real life satire, December 29, 2010

By 

suburban dissident - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pascal: The Provincial Letters (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)

Counted as one of the greatest works in the French language, Pascal's letters are a brilliant mix of acumen, well constructed argument, and withering wit. He launched an assault on the moral theology of the Jesuits during the height of the Jansenist controversy and left a rather amusing and enlightening work what is beautiful in its turn of both phrase and thought.

The first half of the letters is Pascal's attempt to relate the opposing views in the controversy and to illuminate the Jesuit views in all their folly. The second half (which is, unfortunately, a bit more functional and less engaging) is a mix of parry and riposte as Pascal swats away the arguments of his opponents. For the first time in my life, i found myself wising that I read French.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pascal - great Physicist, but even greater Christian Philosopher, October 22, 2010

By 

John Brown - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pascal: The Provincial Letters (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)

Not too many people know about Pascal's complete and unalterable devotion to Christianity. This book, along with his "Pensees" (Thoughts), shows that he was firstly a Christian and only then - a physicist. As a matter of fact, after discovering Christianity Pascal completely abandoned physics and devoted all his time to studying Christian religion. In his time, just like on ours, or just like in the days of early Christians (See "Church History" by Eusebius), the holy name of Christ and his church was often usurped and improperly held by heretics. Pascal distances himself from such heresies, especially from the Catholic church, and, much like Soren Kierkegaard, or Thoreau, or Socrates, establishes his personal inquiry into the true nature of God and human being. This particular book is a satire on Catholic heresies.

This is a good reprint - high quality paper, good formatting, a few minor mistakes in the text (words are not spaced out properly here and there), but overall an excellent edition for the price.