Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart

Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart. By Marvin R. O'Connell. Library of Religious Biography. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997. xxi + 210 pp. $16.00 (paper).

The backbone of this book is the chronological life of Blaise Pascal, 1620-1651. The basic skeleton is shaped by chunky debates on Grace, Politics and Reformation. It is muscled out by detailed discussions of the French Church's internecine disagreements, intrigues and relationship to the State. Information about Pascal's family, intellectual endeavour and piety shape up the whole body. The sad thing is, I can't quite put my finger on why the overall effect did not make me feel I'd been introduced to a vivid, complex human being so much as a corpse.

Those who are only familiar with Pascal's famous wager from the Pensees: "I should be much more afraid of being mistaken and then finding out that Christianity is true than of being mistaken in believing it to be true" (p. 187) will discover that there is far more to him. This is the intellect who developed mathematical theories of curve and cone, explored the nature of the vacuum and assisted his acquaintances by working out their gambling odds. He also invented the first mechanical calculator, initiated a public transport system for Paris and devoted most of his life to pious adoration of a community of nuns (several of whom were his relations).

The great central points of Pascal's life are his "illumination" around 1647 and his much greater mystical experience "la nuit de feu" on November 23rd 1654. The first conversion was from a well-to-do nominal adherence to Roman Catholicism to passionate fervour inspired by Jansen's posthumous Augustinus (1640). The "night of fire" was a visionary revelation which remained secret until after Pascal's death, only discovered in the form of two accounts sewn into his doublet. This "night" inspired a burning piety and devotion in Pascal leading him into violent and eloquent debate with the Molinists (Jesuits) who opposed the Jansenists. It strikes me as odd that a man who adhered to a religious group which regarded obedience to its confessor as crucial to personal spiritual growth should not find it necessary to reveal an experience such as his fiery conversion. It's also peculiar that one who supported his cause so keenly chose to do so, for much of his life, anonymously. But Pascal strikes me as a very strange character!

Pascal goes one step further than his contemporaries: he disliked the Cartesian obsession with reason that Europe found (alas, finds) so alluring and yet used that very reason to "prove" that it is wiser to believe in God than not. He pushes the limits of contemporary church practice, using enthusiasm and piety to show that there is more to living faith than mere adherence. The effect is not just to criticise what he finds wrong but to tie the prevailing authority, be it mathematical, theological or political, up in knots. I found this book rather odd. Piety from a first class brain who relied on second-hand theology. Philosophy by a thinker who sought fame for inventing a calculator. Politics from someone whose involvement was merely by association. Yet I have got a great deal out of it. So get out the scalpel, get stuck into the cadaver and see if you don't find something fascinating about this particular post mortem!

DIANA EVANS

Ecton House

Peterborough, United Kingdom

Copyright Anglican Theological Review, Inc. Winter 1999
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