Historical Apologist: Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was a French philosopher, mathematician and physicist whose writings about Christianity have had a profound influence. In his posthumously published Pensees, Pascal brilliantly analyzed the ambiguities of the human situation and made a case for belief in a world where human reason cannot achieve absolute certainty.

One argument much discussed is "Pascal's Wager," in which he claimed that the eternal good that may be obtained through faith in God makes it prudentially rational to opt for faith even if objective certainty cannot be obtained.1

1. C.Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 89.