Pregledni rad
https://doi.org/10.52685/pihfb.51.2(102).9
Pascal’s Philosophy of Jesus Christ
Hrvoje Relja
; Filozofski fakultet u Splitu, Split, Hrvatska
Istok Đorđević
; Filozofski fakultet u Splitu, Split, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), a renowned mathematician, physicist, inventor and one of the great geniuses of the 17th century, experienced a conversion towards Jesus Christ in the night of the 23rd November 1654. This event marks a crucial turning point in his life, Pascal left the world of science and devoted the last seven years of his life to the teachings of Jesus Christ. This was the period in which the fragments, subsequently collected and published as The Pensées, were written. They constitute Pascal’s philosophical and Christian apology, through which he defends faith in Jesus Christ with unwavering conviction until his dying breath.
The paper presents the apologetic and philosophical expression of Pascal’s Pensées, or rather, his philosophy of Jesus Christ. We are fundamentally introduced to Pascal’s anthropologic understanding, in which he distinguishes two spirits of human cognition: one is geometrical, and the other is intuitive. By using all capacities of a man unified by aforementioned spirits, Pascal is able to perceive the entirety of human cognition, in which lies the reach of human wisdom which enables the man to construct rational worldviews. Pascal’s points to greatness and wretchedness as states of a man which serve to explain the full sense of human character still carrying the original sin, but also the aspiration for realizing the true bliss. The paper also presents Pascal’s philosophy of God which points out that the living God of faith does not negate the God of the philosopher, but rather includes and transcends him. By using this distinction of these two viewpoints, Pascal clearly indicates the deficiencies of those philosophical worldviews which only attribute the philosophical principle to God. What follows is Pascal’s explanation of God’s just relationship with man, in which God looks into a man’s reasoning heart, deeming necessary for God to be both hidden and revealed at the same time. Next section of the paper deals with Pascal’s wager which refers to the rationality of the Christian religion, but also delves to the core of human existence which, encouraged by the wager, demands a personal stance on the question of the living God.
Ultimately, the paper presents the Proofs of Jesus Christ in which Pascal refers to the prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the miracles Christ performed, and the testimony of the apostles on which the Church is founded. Only the teachings of the Church which are a living mystery of Christ can direct any man on a path which fulfills a purpose of a man’s life. Pascal asserts that only Christianity satisfies the human curiosity of the mind and the longing of the heart in the sincere search for God.
Ključne riječi
Blaise Pascal; philosophy of Jesus Christ; apology of Christianity
Hrčak ID:
340985
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2025.
Posjeta: 576 *