I have had a 25-year fascination with Blaise Pascal, and this book did nothing but nurture my admiration even more. He applied his fecund mind to so many topics and discovered the vacuum, pioneered computation, founded probability theory and conic sections, and wrote one of the most enigmatic yet persuasive defenses of Christianity’s reasonableness. Any book that helps me swap my wits with his, even if only by a little, helps me become better at so many levels.
It’s too much to ask any one book to capture all of Pascal’s genius, and this book expectedly falls short. Written by a theologian, it focuses on Pascal’s religious identity and does not enter into the history of science much, other than basically in passing. From a biographical perspective, that’s unfortunate because religious folks, too, need to learn to connect science and religion in today’s world. Understanding how Pascal unified them in one person better could dissipate some antagonism popularly portrayed.
As a spiritual biography, this book does an excellent job chronicling Pascal’s journey from an ambitious scientist to his famous mystical experience in his “Night of Fire.” It shows how he enters into the controversies of his day without being defined by them. It tells of his association with Jansenism and his sister’s nunnery, both of which ran afoul of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Finally, it shows his saintly heart in associating with the poor, not the salons, as his life waned.
Such spiritual drama illustrates the stuff of humble genius, and this book offers readers a chance to meet wits and spirits with this great luminary. Anyone looking to grow as a person – whether or not they follow Pascal at every point – can benefit from wrestling with this great mind. Even those who disagreed with him most – Voltaire and Nietzsche – agree with the supreme value of Pascal’s mind. And of course, traditional Christians, especially those in the Augustinian/Reformed camps, will benefit from Pascal’s keen observations on human life. I’m grateful to have spent time perusing these pages.
Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World
By Graham Tomlin
Copyright (c) 2025
Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN13 9781399807647
Page Count: 438
Genre: Biography
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