Folio Archives 399: Pensées by Blaise Pascal. 2011
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Pensées by Blaise Pascal. 2011
Pensées (which can be translated as aphorisms) is a collection of nearly 1000 ideas that are concerned with life and religion. The book was compiled from Pascal’s writings and arranged into various topic groups by several editors and first published in 1670, after his death.
Blaise Pascal was born in France in 1623 but died at the early age of 39. He was a brilliant physicist and mathematician, but also a very devout Christian who followed a conservative sect of the Catholic Church that was often persecuted by the Church.
He wrote the Pensées towards the end of his life as fragments of discussion in defence of Christianity, but the topics covered were extraordinarily diverse including miracles, Islam, law, vanity, boredom, proofs of God’s existence, Judaism, morality, prophecies and the life of Jesus. It is a masterpiece of theology.
It is not a book to be read from cover to cover, but should be dipped into from time to time and from topic to topic, with each dissertation carefully considered and mulled over.
The 368 page book is beautifully bound in black cloth with a striking gilt design blocked on the cover and spine. It has been translated with an introduced by A.J. Krailsheimer and there is an additional introduction by T.S. Eliot. There is a frontispiece portrait of Pascal and 16 pages of bound in colour plates that reproduce masterpieces of religious painting. The book has gold endpapers and a plain black slipcase that measures 23.7x17cm. The book has a very comprehensive index.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
Pensées (which can be translated as aphorisms) is a collection of nearly 1000 ideas that are concerned with life and religion. The book was compiled from Pascal’s writings and arranged into various topic groups by several editors and first published in 1670, after his death.
Blaise Pascal was born in France in 1623 but died at the early age of 39. He was a brilliant physicist and mathematician, but also a very devout Christian who followed a conservative sect of the Catholic Church that was often persecuted by the Church.
He wrote the Pensées towards the end of his life as fragments of discussion in defence of Christianity, but the topics covered were extraordinarily diverse including miracles, Islam, law, vanity, boredom, proofs of God’s existence, Judaism, morality, prophecies and the life of Jesus. It is a masterpiece of theology.
It is not a book to be read from cover to cover, but should be dipped into from time to time and from topic to topic, with each dissertation carefully considered and mulled over.
The 368 page book is beautifully bound in black cloth with a striking gilt design blocked on the cover and spine. It has been translated with an introduced by A.J. Krailsheimer and there is an additional introduction by T.S. Eliot. There is a frontispiece portrait of Pascal and 16 pages of bound in colour plates that reproduce masterpieces of religious painting. The book has gold endpapers and a plain black slipcase that measures 23.7x17cm. The book has a very comprehensive index.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
