In the pre-Newtonian phase of the Scientific Revolution, Pascal offers a perhaps unique and now impossible case of a thinker who was both a scientific genius and a brilliant Christian writer. He made pioneering advances in mathematics, experiment and technology and can lay claim to founding Christian Existentialism. In his Pensées (Thoughts), Pascal synthesizes his intellectual drives, intimate knowledge of life's fragility, his conflicted attraction to social success and his Christian belief in what was soon considered his greatest masterpiece, first published posthumously in 1670. Composed of over 900 fragments on theological and philosophical topics, the text remains as challenging and immediately comprehensible as it was in
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Citation: Cohen, Mark. "Pensées de M. Pascal sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 November 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=25053, accessed 24 November 2024.]