An abridged reprint of the Doubleday edition of 1976, with new preface and conclusion by the author.

Discourse on the Passion of Love, by Blaise Pascal, and essay on The Physical Cause of Love. “Man is born for thought; therefore he is not a moment without it; but the pure thoughts that would render him happy, if he could always maintain them, weary and oppress him. They make a uniform life to which he cannot adapt himself; he must have excitement and action, that is, it is necessary that he should sometimes be agitated by those passions the deep and vivid sources of which he feels within his heart. The passions which are the best suited to man and include many others, are love and ambition: they have little connection with each other; nevertheless they are often allied; but they mutually weaken, not to say destroy, each other...”

Few people have had as many influences on as many different fields as true Renaissance man Blaise Pascal. At once a mathematician, philosopher, theologian, physicist, and engineer, Pascal’s discoveries, experiments, and theories helped usher in a modern world of scientific thought and methodology. In this singular book on this singular genius, distinguished scholar Mary Ann Caws explores the rich contributions of this extraordinary thinker, interweaving his writings and discoveries with an account of his life and career and the wider intellectual world of his time. Caws takes us back to Pascal’s youth, when he was a child prodigy first engaging mathematics through the works of mathematicians such as Father Mersenne. She describes his early scientific experiments and his construction of mechanical calculating machines; she looks at his correspondence with important thinkers such as René Descartes and Pierre de Fermat; she surveys his many inventions, such as the first means of public transportation in Paris; and she considers his later religious exaltations in works such as the “Memorial.” Along the way, Caws examines Pascal’s various modes of writing—whether he is arguing with the strict puritanical modes of church politics, assuming the personality of a naïve provincial trying to understand the Jesuitical approach, offering pithy aphorisms in the Pensées, or meditating on thinking about thinking itself. Altogether, this book lays side by side many aspects of Pascal’s life and work that are seldom found in a single volume: his religious motivations and faith, his scientific passions, and his practical savvy. The result is a comprehensive but easily approachable account of a fascinating and influential figure.

This book is a study of Blaise Pascal's defence of Christian belief in the Pensees. Michael Moriarty aims to expound--and in places to criticize--what he argues is a coherent and original apologetic strategy. Setting out the basic philosophical and theological presuppositions of Pascal's project, the present volume draws the distinction between convictions attained by reason and those inspired by God-given faith. It also presents Pascal's view of the contradictions within human nature, between the 'wretchedness' (our inability to live the life of reason, to attain secure and durable happiness) and the 'greatness' (the power of thought, manifested in the very awareness of our wretchedness). His mind-body dualism and his mechanistic conception of non-human animals are discussed. Pascal invokes the biblical story of the Fall and the doctrine of original sin as the only credible explanation of these contradictions. His analysis of human occupations as powered by the twin desire to escape from painful thoughts and to gratify one's vanity is subjected to critical examination, as is his conception of the self and self-love. Pascal argues that just as Christianity propounds the only explanation for the human condition, so it offers the only kind of happiness that would satisfy our deepest longings. He thus reasons that we have an interest in investigating its truth-claims as rooted in the Bible and in history. The closing chapters of this book discuss Pascal's view of Christian morality and the famous 'wager' argument for opting in favour of Christian belief.

The standard style guide of the Christian publishing industry, The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style, 4th Edition, compiled by veteran Zondervan editor Robert Hudson, contains clear guidance on style questions related to religious writing, including many topics not addressed in other references or online. Nearly half of this fourth revision is made up of new material, including information about turning blogs into books, the effects of digital media on writing, “adverbial doubles,” “vanishing accents,” word-choice strategies, endorser guidelines, and much more. It also contains an all-new “Word List” which makes up more than a third of the book. The most needful information remains—entries on capitalization, abbreviation, citations, fictional dialogue, and more—but it has all been updated to keep pace with changes in English language usage. This fourth edition also corresponds with The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition (2010), though it isn’t afraid to chart new territory where that reference is unhelpful on issues of religious writing. Comprehensive yet easy-to-use, The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style, 4th Edition, is a go-to resource for Christian authors, pastors, teachers, copy writers, editors, proofreaders, publishing and ministry professionals, executive assistants, and students—anyone who writes or edits as a part of their work or study—and for grammar aficionados everywhere.