Fire in the Dark

Essays on Pascal's Pensées and Provinciales
Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-1-58046-187-0
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer

Buch, Englisch, Band 8, 166 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 431 g

Reihe: Rochester Studies in Philosophy

The eight essays in Fire in the Dark frame and probe Pascal's underlying contention that the darkling, "hidden" God of Christian revelation, though Himself a profound mystery, especially in the matter of his justice towardsfallen mankind, can nonetheless be used to demystify questions that matter most to us.

Pascal's Pensées afford a deeply penetrating view of the human condition [or predicament] as a prelude to a luminously reasoned defense of the Christian faith. His Provincial Letters are best remembered as a wickedly funny satire of "obliging and accommodating" Jesuit moral theologians who, guided by policy rather than piety, are willing to put virtue and salvation within the easy reach of all but the diabolical. Both works are landmarks ofFrench prose that have fascinated readers of all sorts from his day to ours. The eight essays in Fire in the Dark, two of which are new and four of which first appeared in French, frame and probe Pascal's underlying contention that the darkling, "hidden" God of Christian revelation, though Himself a profound mystery, especially in the matter of his justice towards fallen mankind, can nonetheless be used to demystify questions that matter most to us. But can the Supremely Obscure, like a dark lantern that is supremely dark, really illumine our whence, whither, and what now -- our nature, destiny and duties? "Watchman, what of the night?" The answers Pascal offers to Isaiah's query, whether they finally shed light on our world's chiaroscuro or not, can at least claim the authority of coming from out of the dark.

Charles Natoli is a member of the Department of Philosophy and Classical Studies at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. He is also the author of Nietzsche and Pascal on Christianity [1985].

Autoren/Hrsg.

Natoli, Charles M

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Westliche Philosophie: Neuzeit
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophische Anthropologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Fire in the Dark
The Provinciales: Ruse against Ruse, Force against Force?
Preferring to Live in a Tree-Trunk: The Provinciales as Heauton timoroumenos
Revelation/Revolution: A Reflection on Newness in the Provinciales
Proof in the Pensées: Reason as Rhetoric, Rhetoric as Reason
The Fundamental Role of Justice in Pascal's Apologetics: The Hidden God
Mystic/Anti-Mystic: On Speech and Silence in Pascal's Memorial
Watchman, What of the Night?
Select Bibliography
Name Index