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Resources: The Pensées by Blaise Pascal

Graham Tomlin, Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World, Hodder & Stoughton, 2025.

French scientist and polymath Blaise Pascal’s (17th century) apologetic for the Christian faith is primarily found in his unfinished work known as the Pensées (“Thoughts”), a collection of fragments and notes intended as An Apology for the Christian Religion. Pascal, a brilliant mathematician and philosopher who underwent a profound religious conversion in 1654 (his Night of Fire), aimed to persuade skeptical, worldly unbelievers (often modern “pagans” or rationalists influenced by emerging secular thought) of Christianity’s truth and personal relevance. Unlike traditional apologetics that relied heavily on purely rational proofs starting from abstract premises, Pascal adopted a more psychological and existential approach (rooted in an acute analysis of the human condition), emphasizing human experience, the limits of reason, and the heart’s role in belief.

Key Elements of Pascal’s Apologetic Strategy

The Human Condition: Greatness and Wretchedness/Brokenness
Pascal begins with a penetrating diagnosis of humanity. Humans exhibit astonishing greatness (intellectual capacity, moral aspirations, creativity, sense of infinity, longing for transcendence) yet profound wretchedness (boredom, anxiety, cruelty, mortality, inability to find lasting happiness).
No other philosophy or religion adequately explains this paradox. Secular philosophies and other worldviews either deny the wretchedness (leading to superficial optimism) or the greatness (leading to despair), high ideals mixed with brokenness. Christianity alone accounts for both: humans are made in God’s image (explaining the greatness) but fallen into sin (explaining the wretchedness/corruption/fraud). Knowing Jesus Christ “strikes the balance” by revealing both the goodness and glory of God and our own misery and dysfunctionality.

Limits of Reason and Diversion
Pure reason (worldviews and logic) cannot settle ultimate questions like God’s existence or the meaning of life—it leads to skepticism or indifference. At best it leads to Deism. People distract themselves through endless “diversion” (entertainment, ambition, society, climbing the ladder) to avoid facing their wretchedness and mortality. They live in denial of the existential dilemma. Pascal seeks to “never leave them in peace”, stripping away these distractions to force honest confrontation with reality. The heart of the matter is important.

The Role of the Heart and Faith
Pascal famously distinguishes: “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.” True belief involves more than intellectual assent; it requires the “heart” (intuition, will, experience, deeper desires). This is similar to Kierkegaard. Faith is a gift, but humans can prepare for it, and must personally engage it and seek the hidden God.

Pascal’s Wager
One famous (though often misunderstood) element is the “wager” (especially in Pensée 233). Since reason cannot decide whether God exists, one must still choose—non-belief, agnosticism, scepticism is itself also a bet.
What are the stakes?

• If you believe and God exists → infinite gain (eternal life). 
• If you believe and God does not exist → finite loss (some earthly sacrifices). 
• If you do not believe and God exists → infinite loss (eternal separation). 
• If you do not believe and God does not exist → finite gain (temporary pleasures).
  Rationally, one should “wager” on God. Pascal urges not mere intellectual assent but living as if God exists (attending worship, curbing passions, loving your neighbour, helping the poor), which can lead to genuine faith over time. The wager is not the whole apologetic but a pragmatic move to motivate action when intellectual barriers persist, and one is frozen in place–spiritually stuck.

Positive Evidences for Christianity
Beyond the anthropological argument and his wager, Pascal includes:

• The fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in Jesus. 
• The historical reliability of the Christian narrative or social imaginary, and the miracles surrounding Christ. He has his strongest emphasis on the cross of Christ. 
• The perpetuity and unique character of the Jewish people and Christian revelation. It is a Judeo-Christian faith.
• Christianity’s high moral profundity, gravitas, and transformative power.

Pascal’s apologetic is existential and persuasive rather than strictly deductive. He targets the will and emotions (the heart motives) as much as the intellect, aiming to make unbelievers want Christianity by showing it as the only satisfying explanation of human reality and the answer to existential human longing. His work remains influential for addressing modern skepticism, where abstract proofs often fail but honest self-examination opens doors to faith. Christianity is both ‘strange’ and ‘attractive’. As a scientist, Pascal wants to bring all the evidence to the table. Ultimately he argues that it is true as a take on reality. Graham Tomlin opens up these issues in chapters 12 and 13.

~Dr. Gordon E. Carkner, Meta-Educator, Author of Towards an Incarnational Spiritual Culture.