About the Book
'Readable and expert - a brilliant guide to the life and thought of 17th century Europe's supreme polymath'
Tom Holland
'A richly detailed account of Pascal's life and times, which displays an energetic sympathy for Pascal's startling combination of intellectual precocity and humble faith.'
Rory Stewart
'A beautiful, accessible account of one of the era's most remarkable lives'
Katherine Rundell
He lived for just 39 years, yet Blaise Pascal was one of the most remarkable and creative figures of the seventeenth century.
He is known for his famous argument 'the wager', but there's so much more to him than that (and most people misunderstand the argument anyway). Pascal can lay claim not only to have built an early version of the modern computer, done ground-breaking work in mathematics and geometry and virtually invented probability theory, but also to have produced one of the most haunting and effective works of Christian apologetics ever written. He is a major intellectual figure at the beginning of the modern age who blends together in his own person and thinking issues that are critical to our age. Blaise Pascal is therefore a crucial figure: not just in the history of European thought, but in how he can shed light on many contemporary debates.
About the Author :
Graham Tomlin is the Director of the Centre for Cultural Witness, based in Lambeth Palace, and President of St Mellitus College. He was formerly Bishop of Kensington in London. He taught theology in Oxford University and London for many years. He is the author of numerous books and is a regular speaker both nationally and internationally.
Review :
A richly detailed account of Pascal's life and times, which displays an energetic sympathy for Pascal's startling combination of intellectual precocity and humble faith.
A beautiful, accessible account of one of the era's most remarkable lives.
At once readable and expert, this is a wonderful guide to the life and thought of 17th century Europe's supreme polymath. How any one man could have covered so many bases is a mystery that Graham Tomlin brilliantly elucidates.
A fresh, accessible and highly engaging account of a leading philosopher whose ideas remain strikingly relevant today. Highly recommended.
If we are in search of a well-informed, well-written biography of Pascal that includes an introduction to his thought, and stands the tests of both scholarship and verve, we should look no further. Whether treating the man or the work, the science or the religion, Graham Tomlin artlessly generates our interest in Pascal against the background of his time. That is commendation enough, but there is more. Reading this biography, we are impelled to greater honesty about ourselves and seriousness about our lives. It becomes a book about our time, and not just about Pascal's.
A compelling portrait of a fascinating figure navigating an equally fascinating period. In a world where everything is in flux, how can a man with a once-in-a-generation mind endeavour to keep hold of his soul? Hugely enjoyable.
Tomlin carries us wonderfully through Pascal's short, painful and remarkable life. He tells a story of faith and theological endeavour, sitting alongside brilliant innovations in mathematics with forays into probability, betting and public transport. The power and energy of Pascal's thought shines through.
A brilliant, accessible introduction to the luminous life of one of the greatest minds and mystics of modern times. Graham Tomlin makes a compelling case for Pascal as "the man who made the modern world."
Blaise Pascal is not a household name in the way Descartes or Voltaire are - but he should be. Provocative and creative, intellectual and practical, scientific and spiritual, he had one of the most original minds in early modern Europe. Graham Tomlin has written a vivid, perceptive, and highly readable biography of a thinker, and one that will, I hope, bring this short-lived genius to the attention of the wide audience he deserves.
Graham Tomlin gives us much more than just an engaging story of Pascal's life and times. It is also a comprehensive introduction to Pascal's thought. Tomlin presents Pascal as one of the first truly modern men, and as one of modernity's first and best critics. Pascal helps us to understand ourselves and our world, and Tomlin helps us to understand Pascal.
Blaise Pascal stands as a challenge to neat oppositions, like science versus faith or intellect versus experience. Pascal's intellectual and scientific achievements are formidable and he did not value them any less because he is also famous for his dictum, "the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing". Graham Tomlin helps the reader to navigate the astounding, complex character of Pascal's life and religious experience without ourselves descending into banal either/ors. Pascal opens for the reader the possibility of a bigger and more compelling world, in which God is real and personal and wholly unafraid of human reason.
In this engaging and broad-ranging presentation of the life and times of Blaise Pascal, Graham Tomlin holds this brilliant, complex, appealing figure before us with obvious and well-deserved admiration. Read this book and find that whatever you know about Pascal - scientist, mathematician, philosopher, engineer, spiritual writer, social commentator - there is always something more to discover.
Pascal is an extraordinarily complex figure, whose outstanding achievements as an inventor, mathematician, scientist and religious thinker were crammed into a life of only thirty-nine years. Graham Tomlin offers an engrossing presentation of his life and thought, rich in biographical detail. He covers all aspects of Pascal's activity, skilfully locating it in its familial, social, historical, intellectual, and religious contexts. He highlights the originality of Pascal's approach to the justification of religious belief. Without toning down his author's uncompromising message, he makes it comprehensible to the present-day reader. He makes a good case for seeing Pascal as a maker, not only of the modern, but of the postmodern world.
Building on decades of research, Tomlin paints a vivid and compelling portrait of Pascal as a social critic, great scientist, and profound religious thinker. It is one that situates Pascal in his own turbulent age but also enables his thought and life to speak to the turmoil and fractures of the contemporary context in vital ways.
This illuminating and absorbing account of the life of Blaise Pascal is essential reading for anyone interested in how the modern world was formed. Graham Tomlin brings to life Pascal's intellectual genius and the intensity of his spiritual awakening. He also sheds helpful light on the search for significance in our own age of scientific and technological advance. We are not the first generation to struggle with questions of faith, reason and ultimate meaning - Pascal was already providing brilliant insights over 300 years ago. This new biography will help you to understand Pascal's world, and our own.
