Antoine Campagnon, translated by Catherine Porter
(Belknap Press, $29.95, 168 pages)
A Summer with Pascal is a light, breezy introduction by Antoine Campagnon to one of the most important Christian apologists, Blaise Pascal. Campagnon, who has written about other French writers (Montaigne, Proust) turns his eye to the 17th century writer who famously gave us Pascal’s Wager, which posits that it is better to bet that God exists and live accordingly because of the infinite joy of heaven, than deny God and risk hell. In 41 short chapters (3-4 pages each), Campagnon illustrates how there is so much more to Pascal than his famous wager. Pascal, a young genius who began life as a mathematician and scientist, was committed to the idea of honnête homme, the enlightened gentleman. Pascal, who died in his 40s, would eventually come to believe that only a life of deep faith would lead one to live the life of honnête homme. Pascal lived at “the precise moment when the vision of the world was being overturned,” the world of “the Bible and Aristotle” replaced by the world of science. But science, Pascal warned, could distract from the essential search for supernatural truth. According to Campagnon, Pascal was full of humility and was an enemy of certainty. In the Pensées (“Thoughts,” a book that Pascal never completed), Pascal said that “we know truth not only through reason but also through the heart” but that reason, as a human construct, is susceptible to corruption. That said, Pensées is ruthlessly reasonable in describing man’s wretchedness and need for redemption through Christianity. Campagnon’s charming little book explores Pascal’s ideas through episodes of biography, short reflections on Pascal’s words, and the philosopher’s engagement with the world. He nicely summarizes Pascal by noting that “since every quest is the effect of Grace, to seek God is to be sought by Him.” Those seeking God have few better guides than Pascal and there are few better guides to Pascal than Campagnon.
