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Pascal

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June 2013

June 24, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: Praying Like Elijah

“What a long way it is between knowing God and loving him!” (f. 377) Ultimately,...

June 17, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: Setting Our Hearts

I’ve been reading my way through the Old Testament again and have reached the sad,...

June 10, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: Diminishing Your Passions or Increasing Your Hunger

In our last Neo-Pascalian conversation, I indicated that fragment 418 held yet another clue to...

April 2013

April 24, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: The Second Step Toward a Make-Believe Faith

I want to begin this part of the conversation acknowledging a comment to my last...

April 16, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: The First Step of Make-Believe Faith

We are left with this all-important question: how do we get faith? How do we...

March 2013

March 27, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: From Gambling Table to Altar

One of the concepts Pascal is best known for is his Wager, a longer fragment...

March 12, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: The Third Order

In our last Pascalian conversation, I left you with fire. And if you’ve had an...

February 2013

February 25, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: Fire

When Pascal died, those who prepared his body for burial found sewn into the lining...

February 18, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: An Indiana Jones Kind of Faith?

Earlier we took a quick look at a scientific experiment conducted by Pascal in 1646,...

February 12, 2013

Pascal, Ash Wednesday, and the Hidden God

In the Anglican Ash Wednesday ritual, we pray for the grace of true repentance. Repentance...

February 05, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: Poised Between Two Worlds

Last week we explored the Jansenist effort to reconstruct Christian community as the fellowship of...

January 2013

January 29, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: The Augustinian Problem

In pursuing Pascal, it is not long before we come face-to-face with a conundrum. It’s...

January 21, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: The Back Story

Okay, this week we’re diving into French history, which might not be your cup of...

January 15, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: A Personality Quirk?

As we pointed out last week, Pascal’s actual scientific and mathematical work has been far...

January 08, 2013

Becoming Neo-Pascalian: An Introduction, from Cones to Gambling

Pascal, this unusual 17th-century giant, seems to be poised to speak again from a distance...

January 05, 2013

Becoming a Neo-Pascalian

Yesterday I wound up the last obligations of my fall courses. This included grading a...

July 2010

July 11, 2010

Doubt: “Just the Facts, Ma’am” – Second Thoughts

The show’s dramatic theme song prepped the audience for a thrill; the deep voice announced...