Pascal

John TullochProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 363K words
Chapters: 37

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Pascal by John TullochAuthor: Tulloch, John, 1823-1886,Language: English, Class: B: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Release Date: Sep 29, 2008

Editor's review

This *Pascal* by John Tulloch is a work of critical biography belonging to the tradition of philosophical and religious thought studies. Tulloch was a nineteenth-century Scottish church historian and theologian, and his Pascal is not presented merely as a mathematical genius or the author of the *Pensées*; rather, Pascal is placed back in the context of seventeenth-century French Catholic reform and the Jansenist religious controversies. The book focuses on Pascal's experience of faith, the tension between him and rationalism, and the questions addressed by the *Provincial Letters* and the *Pensées*. For Chinese readers today, the value of this book lies in offering the interpretive perspective of a nineteenth-century theologian: it does not pursue the documentary completeness of modern scholarship, yet it preserves the coherent narrative and intellectual concerns characteristic of the critical biography. It is suitable as an auxiliary text for entering Pascal's thought; read alongside the original *Pensées*, it shows how readers of different eras understand the same Pascal. The Project Gutenberg public-domain electronic edition is convenient for searching and reading through, and suitable for use in sections during commutes or thematic study.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who have some initial contact with Pascal's *Pensées* and wish to understand its intellectual background
Undergraduates studying the history of Western philosophy or religious thought who need critical biography materials
Readers accustomed to nineteenth-century English critical biography and open to a theological perspective
Discussion leaders and members preparing a Pascal reading group who need auxiliary interpretive material

Not a good fit for

Philosophy researchers seeking rigorous documentation and textual criticism by modern academic standards
Science and engineering readers hoping for a detailed account of Pascal's contributions to mathematics and physics
Chinese beginners who struggle with English reading and do not need a parallel translation
Readers who only want the original aphorisms of the *Pensées* and are not interested in critical biography

Reading tips

Read selected passages of the *Pensées* first, then the corresponding chapters of this book, comparing the two tones and sets of questions.
Read by theme rather than from beginning to end: start with the chapter on faith and reason, then the section on the Jansenist background.
Keep a pen to mark Pascal's original passages quoted in the book, and later check the wording against Chinese translations.
If English is difficult, first read a Chinese translation of a Pascal biography to build a framework, then use this book as a supplement.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book Pascal's original work or a later critical biography?

This is a critical biography written by John Tulloch, not Pascal's original work. It introduces Pascal's life and thought through narrative and commentary, and quotations from Pascal's works are paraphrases and excerpts. To read Pascal's own words, you still need to find complete translations of the *Pensées* and the *Provincial Letters*.

Can I understand this book without a philosophy background?

You can read it, but there is a certain threshold. Tulloch's prose is in the nineteenth-century critical biography style, with long sentences, and assumes readers have a basic understanding of Christian theological controversies. If you have never encountered Pascal at all, it is advisable to read a concise biography or selected translation of the *Pensées* first; entering this book will then be much smoother.

The electronic edition is in English; what is the reading experience like?

This is a public-domain English e-book released by Project Gutenberg; the layout is mainly plain text, convenient for full-text searching and copying quotations, but it has no modern annotations or introduction. It is suitable for reading through on an e-reader with adjustable font size, and also for locating chapters by keyword on a computer; it is not for readers expecting the layout of a carefully edited print edition.

Which should I read first, this book or the *Pensées*?

It is advisable to read selected passages or a Chinese translation of the *Pensées* first to gain an intuitive feel for Pascal's fragmentary writing, then read this critical biography to understand its historical background and the context of the controversies. Reading the biography first is also possible, but it is easy to treat Pascal as an object being explained and miss the tension of the original text itself.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

John Tulloch Author · British · 1823–1886

John Tulloch (1823–1886) was a British Scottish church theologian and served as Principal of St Mary's College at the University of St Andrews. Public information about his life is limited; only two of his works are held here, the representative titles being Pascal and Religion and Theology: A Sermon for the Times. These works show that his writing combined reflection on thinkers with commentary on religious matters of the day: the former deals with Pascal's life and thought, while the latter, in sermon form, responds to contemporary concerns about religion and theology, with a tone of theological argument and moral exhortation. His writings reflect the intellectual climate and religious debates within the Scottish Church in the nineteenth century and offer some reference value for understanding the theological currents of the time.