Pascal at the PA

Yesterday, I was back at the Pastor's Academy perhaps for the last time. I was at the reading group leading a discussion of a new biography of Blaise Pascal by Graham Tomlin. The book is a fine piece of work and appears to give a full and fair description and assessment of the giant and genius that is Pascal. The below were written to provoke discussion, whuch they did. They plan to look at Oilgrim's Progress next, September 7.

Pastors Academy Reading Group April 27 2026 [GB]

Blaise Pascal, the man who made the modern world by Graham Tomlin [H & S 2025]

Impressions? Did you enjoy it? What did you know of P beforehand? Can we trust Tomlin?

Intro [1-8] Does Tomlin oversell P? Did P anticipate postmodernism?

1 Great Century [9-36] How necessary is this chapter, how helpful? Is P an enigma [13]?

2/3 Majesty of Science [37-59]/Weighing the Air [60-73] Do these chapters help us with the science versus religion debate? What are the differences between P and Descartes? Would it be better today if scientists were more open to changing their minds if the evidence suggests it? [63] Do “Science & theology require different methods”? [72] If so, why? “It is the heart that perceives God not the reason”; true? [72]

4 Nothing Is Certain [74-96] Any libertins or honnete hommes today? What are the differences between P and Montaigne? How did they see death similarly/differently? Where did they differ on attitudes to self? What about man's insignificance/right responses to the human condition? 'What do I know?' or 'What do I do?' [95]

5 Children of Port-Royal [97-123] Is there an argument for sometimes abstaining from communion? What about retreats? [102] What about contrition and attrition? [112] What about pre-communion self-examination? [113] Does Chapter 5 help us on the matter of living out “the spiritual life in the middle of the world”? [121] What about providence – eg P not marrying, escaping his crazy uncle, etc? [120, 122]

6 Night of Fire [124-149] Is there a place for burying a talent? What do you make of P's “second conversion”? How does it compare with Descartes' story? Is it anti-physical at all?

7 Two Champions [150-168] Who are the two champions; what difference does P highlight under their names? Are Protestants far too confident that they, they alone, know the true meaning of the Bible? [159] Is sceptical dogmatism/dogmatic scepticism the right way to think?

8 Demented, Heretical or Jansenist? [169-196] What do we say to the five propositions? Is God a capricious despot moving pawns around? [172] Is there a blurring of Church and world today and will instruction put things right? [174] Were Jansenists Calvinists in disguise? [175; 112/3, 185] Would an entirely different approach help us perhaps? Does ridicule have a place? [176] Is there more of a need for popular writing? [178] Are there things to discuss here about use of technology/ persecution? What about the Jesuit views considered in letters 5 & 7? What do you make of the discussion of grace 186-191? Are both Jesuits and Jansenists wrong? Is it true to say heresy is often driven by an apologetic agenda, the Jesuits being a prime example? [192/3] Was P a Jansenist?

9 Hidden God [197-220] P speaks of the force of truth; a useful phrase? [197] What of his commitment to Romanism? [198] “P was always a too big and independent a mind and a character to fit ...” True or false? If true, good or bad? [199] Ridicule and eloquence might amuse but do not convert – discuss [201] Is the idea of God being hidden useful [202]? “True miracles can never be performed by anyone … to confirm an error” Is that a biblical position? [206] Are false miracles a proof there are true ones? [207] Do people believe miracles or not on the strength of evidence or what's in their hearts? [208] Is this helpful on the incarnation? [209, 220] Is P's doubt over creation's power to convert right? [212] It provides “too much to deny and too much to prove”; true? [213] “... he must see enough to know that he has lost him ...” Useful? [217]

10 Cleopatra’s Nose [221-244] Is P helpful on politics? Did the Jansenists act Jesuitically? [243]

11 Distracting Ourselves to Death [245-267] P was not content with conventional wisdom; is that a good thing? [251] What of P's struggle to balance his love of maths, etc and his love for God? [255] Is P helpful on distraction? Why is the most pleasure in the chase? [260] How do Montaigne and P differ on happiness? What about the long quotation 263?

12 Christianity Is Strange [268-293] Was P pre-suppositionalist? [275] How do we learn to love people? [276/7] Is P's order of arguing his case good? How do we escape thinking only of the past and future? [287] What about the problem of self-deception? Do we need to learn that we are monsters? [289] Is the observation top of 292 about Adam true and helpful? Is Christianity strange?

13 Make It Attractive [294-317] Is it right to say that simply piling up rational arguments for faith is a mistake? [299] What about “All those contradictions which seemed to take me furthest from the knowledge of any religion are what led me most directly to the true religion”? [302] How important is it to stress that we need a Redeemer? [303] What about his approach to Islam and the Old Testament? And the centrality of Jesus Christ? [308] Is the realisation that revelation is paradoxically hidden a helpful insight? [309] “Despite its total implausibility”? [310] The importance of the cross? What about pages 316, 317?

14 Spinning Coin at the Edge of the Universe [318-342] Atheism – not a bad argument but a bad gamble?? [332] What about the power of habit? [334] Confirmation bias?? [336] Three ways to believe? [340]

15 Hate Your Self [343-364] Does P define conversion well? [343] The competitive, deceiving, divided, trivial self and the remedy? The right balance in hating self?

16 If You Only Had a Week to Live [365-388] What do we make of P and his critics?