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The Mind on Fire: A Faith for the Skeptical and Indifferent.

Blaise Pascal

James M. Houston & Os Guinness

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Regent College Publishing (April 2 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1573832456
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1573832458
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 428 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 1.91 x 21.59 cm

About the Book

Blaise Pascal, the remarkable seventeenth-century mathematician, physicist, and religious thinker, rigorously refutes the belief that to become a Christian you must first commit intellectual suicide. He wrote to communicate the Christian faith to the skep

Table of Contents 

Preface to the Classics of Faith and Devotion by James M. Houston

Editor's Note about Blaise Pascal

Chronology of the Life and Times of Pascal

Introduction by Os Guinness

Pascal's Testimony of His Conversion


The Pensées: Rearranged and Selected as a Christian Apologetic


1.  Introduction


Part 1: The Misery of Man without God


2. Man's Natural Condition


3. Man's Unhappy Condition

4. Man's Boredom

5. Man Living Rationalistically

6. The Greatness of Man's Dignity

7.  Human Contradictions

8. Human Distractions

9. The Philosophers' Quest for Happiness

10. The Quest for the Sovereign Good

 

Part 2: The Human Initiative of Reasoning

11. On the Contradictory Nature of Man

12. Reason Can Begin Again by Recognizing What It Can Never Know

13. Submission, the Correct Use of Reason

Part 3: The Divine Initiative

14. The Transition From Human Knowledge to Knowing God

15. The Corruption of Human Nature

16. The Falsity of Other Religions

17. What Makes True Religion Attractive?

18. Fundamentals of the Faith and Answers to Objections

19. Figurative Meanings of Old Testament Law

20. Rabbinic Writings

21. Perpetuity, or Lasting Principles of the Christian Faith

22. Proofs of Moses

23. Proofs of Jesus Christ

24. Prophecies of Scripture

25. Particular Figures of Prophecy

26. Christian Morality

27. Conclusion

Other Maxims from the Pensées and the Sayings

Letters Written to a Provincial by One of His Friends

Letter 1: Remarks on a Dispute among Theologians at the Sorbonne, to Censure A. Arnauld

Letter 2: On the Subject of Sufficient Grace

Letter 4: Concerning Actual Grace and Sins of Ignorance

Letter 5: The Motive of the Jesuits in Establishing a New Morality

Letter 10: Easy Expedience of the Jesuits with Regard to the Sacrament of Penance. Their Maxims in Regard to the Confession, Absolution, Contrition, and the Love of God.

A Prayer of Pascal, Asking God to Use Sickness in His Life Appropriately

A Guide to Devotional Reading

Scripture Index

Subject Index

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