Blaise Pascal - by Peter Rollins "Five Part Course on Pascal's 'Pensees'"

Blaise Pascal, "Faith without virtue is meaningless"

Introduction - The Child Prodigy, Blaise Pascal

Setting Pascal Ablaze | A Pyrotheological Reading of Pensées

by Peter Rollins

June 14, 2023

JUNE 14 AT 10:52 AM

Setting Pascal Ablaze | A Five-Part Course

Blaise Pascal has earned his place in history as one of the world’s greatest mathematicians and scientists, making important intellectual contributions from the age of 16, including the invention of a calculator as a teenager - just to help his dad work out his taxes. However, Pascal is most famous for his philosophical reflections. Reflections which possess a richness, style and insight that make them feel as fresh and vital today as when they were first written.

His masterpiece was an unfinished work that came to be called the Pensées. Through his endeavor to describe and defend Christianity in a compelling way, Pascal ended up giving the world some of the most profound descriptions of the human condition. Predating both Psychoanalysis and Existentialism, his work describes many of the themes that would become so central to these movements, such as the power of self-deception, the anxiety of freedom and the dizzying experience of feeling both the splendor and insignificance of existence. Basically, it’s a intellectual rollercoaster.

In this five part course, we’ll take a deep dive into Pascal’s Pensées, wrestling with its themes and seeing how they might both illuminate and impact our lives.

Course Schedule:

1. Deception and Distraction - June 25th
2. Without a Compass or a Map - July 16th
3. The Gambler and the Machine - July 23rd
4. Rethinking the God Shaped Hole - July 30th
5. Class Presentations (optional) - August 20th

All classes will commence at 10 am PST (1 pm EDT, 6 pm BST). Recordings of each session will be available, allowing you to watch live or later. I recommend A.J. Krailsheimer’s translation of Pensées (readings will be assigned from that translation).

How to Join:

Go here to join - https://www.patreon.com/peterrollins for $20.00 / month.

This course is open to everyone who supports me at Blaze level on Patreon. By supporting me on Patreon, you not only enable me to dedicate myself fully to this work, but you also get access to hundreds of hours of archived material, along with regular book studies, hangouts, and other events.

Hope you can join me!