An intuitive mathematician and a gifted physicist, Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) was one of the great pioneers of the scientific enterprise. He was also one of the most distinctive Christian apologists in history. Pensées is not a typical monograph; rather it is comprised of thoughts Pascal scribbled in a notepad he carried with him regularly. He had intended to utilize the notes to write a Christian apologetics book. Unfortunately he died before he could complete this task.

Nevertheless, the collection of organized and unorganized notes contains such profound content that it remains a continual bestseller. One can only wonder what Pascal’s apologetics text would have been like had it been completed.

Mining Pascal’s Apologetics Gold

Actually, we can imagine, to some degree, what Pascal’s grand apologetics book would have been like. Over the last few decades, three gifted contemporary Christian philosophers have mined the apologetics gold within Pascal’s Pensées and set forth this wisdom in a more complete apologetics form. All three books are excellent for understanding Pascal as a man and utilizing his unique apologetics brilliance.

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1. Making Sense of It All: Pascal and the Meaning of Life (Eerdmans, 1992) by Thomas V. Morris
One of the best books I have ever read on Christian philosophy and apologetics, Making Sense of It All skillfully and successfully answers many of the existential objections that people give for not believing. Morris utilizes Pascal’s scientific, philosophical, and apologetic statements to show how faith in Jesus Christ is the unique answer to humankind’s deepest yearnings for meaning and life eternal. Morris also succeeds in weaving together many of Pascal’s brilliant insights into a significant and powerful Christian apologetic work.

2. Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s Pensées (Ignatius, 1993) by Peter Kreeft
Prolific Roman Catholic writer and apologist Peter Kreeft presents Pascal and his apologetics ideas in a clever and stimulating manner. This work is much longer than Morris’ book and contains helpful information about Pensées and the life of Pascal. Kreeft, a convert from Calvinism to Catholicism, is one of the leading apologists and philosophers writing today.

3. On Pascal (Wadsworth, 2003) by Douglas Groothuis
In his book, Christian philosopher and apologist Douglas Groothuis discusses Pascal’s unique intellectual contributions to Christianity and to the broader Western world. In just over a hundred pages, Groothuis skillfully unveils and explains the central Pascalian philosophical themes. This helpful book is part of the larger Wadsworth Philosophers Series. It is great to see Pascal, an outspoken Christian thinker, included in this series.

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Pascal is one of my favorite Christian thinkers and writers. I much appreciate that these three contemporary apologists have worked to bring his unique apologetics insights to life.

…the results of modern science, properly understood, are no threat to Christian faith. Christian faith and scientific method are understood to be complementary ways of knowing God’s creative work, each having its distinctive ways of knowing, methods and areas of validity.

– John Jefferson Davis, The Frontiers of Science and Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002), 7.

My relationship with Sarah, as father and daughter, is one of the closest of my entire life. So even though she moved only a few miles away it still hurt to see her go. Yet it is also a pleasure to see her transitioning into a more independent stage of life.

I spent many hours praying for all my children, asking the Lord to lead, protect, and equip them for His kingdom and glory. A Christian parent’s role includes preparing children to be good citizens of two kingdoms. Believers have responsibilities in the present age (call it the civil kingdom) as they live out their temporal destiny. At the same time, they have everlasting duties that impact the age to come (call it the eternal kingdom). Broadly speaking, these dual allegiances are sometimes referred to as the two kingdoms doctrine (see here for a three-part explanation of this doctrine).

All these things are now coming to pass in Sarah’s life. Her robust Christian faith stands at the focal point of her life. At the same time, she is a fine citizen of our great nation and a competent and skilled stenographer with a strong work ethic and desire to succeed in her career. She is also a deeply reliable and trustworthy person. I’m so proud of the wonderful woman she has become.

This Father’s Day, I encourage you also to prayerfully consider Christians’ civic and spiritual responsibilities and how to guide your children to deeper understanding of their roles in these dual kingdoms.

When it comes to contemplating a Christian’s duty before God and country, I recommend theologian David VanDrunen’s book Living in God’s Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture.

We are told that in the early days of the Church the pagans were often amazed at the calmness of the Christians in the hour of death. There was something about their noble and fearless bearing that pagan philosophy could not explain. That attitude seemed strange then, and still does, to the man of the world, for he cannot understand how it is possible for anyone to view death mildly and calmly.

– Loraine Boettner, Immortality (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed), 44.

How to Do Battle against Radical Islam

I teach a comparative religions course in Biola University’s MA program in Christian apologetics. The course examines the world’s major religions, including Islam, in light of the historic Christian worldview. I tell my students that I believe only a small percentage of the world’s Muslims have adopted the radical political-religious philosophy that promotes and carries out acts of Jihadist terror against innocent people. Of course, with a worldwide population of 1.62 billion Muslims (approximately 23 percent of the world’s population), even if only 5 percent have adopted a radical form of Islam, like that of al-Qaeda, the numbers would be staggeringly ominous.¹ Ironically, many or most of the victims of radical Islamic terrorist acts are themselves Muslims.

Since the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001, I think the American government, via the military and law enforcement, has taken some effective measures to make America safer from the threat of terrorist acts. No doubt people question some of the difficult judgments and decisions made by both Presidents Bush and Obama in the War on Terror, but overall I believe America has been successful in navigating this new and difficult type of defense.

Force of a Different Type

However, to defeat radical Islam, Western democracies must also utilize a force more formidable than rockets and drones—namely, the force of ideas. An ideological conflict can be won only by presenting a superior philosophy of life.

Three years ago I wrote an article entitled “Ideas, Ideology, and Islam,” in which I highlight the Pakistani-British citizen Maajid Nawaz, a former Muslim extremist who now works to combat Jihadist ideology. Once a chief recruiter for the Islamic extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (“Party of Liberation”), Nawaz eventually concluded that radical Jihadist Islam is closer to a form of fascistic totalitarianism than to traditional Islam. Nawaz, a courageous and moderate Muslim, dialogues with and debates radical Muslims on college campuses and seeks to demonstrate their convoluted understanding of Islam.²

I think the Western democracies should solidly support such efforts. To effect real change, these radical Muslims must come to view Islam differently. After all, this war on terrorism is, at its core, an ideological conflict—thus, also a spiritual one.

Some Christians with whom I’ve shared my views suggest that supporting and promoting moderate voices within the Islamic world will fail. Why? Because these Christians view Islam as inherently violent. To them, Islam possesses no truly moderate voices.

Yet no religion is a monolith. I think it is possible to disassociate radical political ideologies from the traditional practice of Islam. Granted, it isn’t easy to change minds formed by fascist-like philosophies—but with such high stakes, we must make every effort.

Nearly a quarter of the world’s population is Muslim. We better hope that a majority of these are moderate Muslims, who affirm peace and tolerance, or else the world is in for an even greater tribulation than the one described by the eschatological views held by some Christians. The best scenario from a historic Christian perspective would be for Muslims to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The great challenge is that most nations with an Islamic majority do not allow Christian proselytization.

I encourage liberty-loving individuals to view the war against radical Islamic terrorism as similar to the Cold War: a long twilight struggle that will require military might and sound ideas, as well as concerted prayer. And I hope liberty-loving Muslims will join in this effort because most of the victims of Islamic terrorist acts have been, themselves, Muslims.

References:

1. Just after the events of 9/11, Middle East specialist Daniel Pipes estimated the number of Muslims who had adopted a form of radical Islam was approximately 10–15 percent.

2. In response to this problem, Nawaz founded the Quilliam Foundation, a think tank that seeks to counter the message of radical Islamic Jihadism.

Through most of the church’s history Christians, like the Jews from whom they sprang, have believed that the Biblical Adam and Eve were actual persons, from whom all other human beings are descended, and whose disobedience to God brought sin into human experience.

– C. John Collins, Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 11.

His response was a polite, “No thanks, I want to pursue a college major that will make me rich.”

“How rich?” I asked.

He replied, “Stinkin’ rich!”

In light of this conversation, I began thinking my son may hold a practical view of life quite similar to the one my father held. I remember telling my dad, in the late 1970s, that I planned to major in philosophy and religion. My father, who had been raised during the Great Depression and had served as a frontline combat soldier during World War II, bluntly asked, “How much money does it pay?”

I said, “I don’t care about money; I just want the truth!”

He said, “You can’t handle the truth!” Okay, that last line might be from the Jack Nicholson movie A Few Good Men—but it captures the essence of my dad’s response.

A recent Yahoo! article listed five college majors parents ought to dissuade their kids from choosing. Sure enough, philosophy and religious studies made the list. The author of the article, Danielle Blundell, writes:

I think, therefore I am. Too bad Descartes’ famous ditty doesn’t carry as much weight when it comes to snagging a job with a degree in philosophy or religious studies. Get ready to sweat if your son or daughter chooses one of these heady courses of study.

The article goes on to state that young men and women graduating in these fields face a higher than average unemployment rate (10.8 percent). Blundell comments:

And unless you plan on continuing on to grad school and working as a philosophy professor, Reynaldo [a college admissions consulting and major matching specialist] says that the problem with philosophy is that the principles behind it—questioning existence, thinking about knowledge—are perceived as “useless” in the workplace.

Education, Jobs, and God’s Calling

There is, of course, a lot of truth in this article. In academic fields like philosophy and religion it is virtually essential that a person attain a doctoral degree in order to compete for employment—even with an advanced degree the job market is challenging. A lot of talented Christian apologists I’ve known with degrees in philosophy and theology struggle financially. Even when someone lands a job in these fields, the comparatively modest pay can make it challenging to provide for a family.

Nevertheless, it is tragic and painful to hear people say that the philosophical and logical skills of thinking clearly and carefully about the big questions of life are viewed as “useless” in the workplace. I know that a person with an ordered and critical mind can make important contributions in almost any employment field. However, to its detriment, our society continues to devalue the life of the mind. Many people view philosophers and theologians as irrelevant “eggheads.”

Yet, as I told my father some 30 years ago, National Socialism and Communism are, at their core, philosophical ideologies—and as C. S. Lewis so eloquently stated in his book The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”

Yes, Christian young people who are considering philosophy and theology need to balance practicality with reflective spiritual discernment. But let’s not forget that Christ’s church needs committed and well-trained pastors, theologians, philosophers, and apologists—and as many of us have experienced, where God guides, God provides.

Christian apologetics works fall into three categories: Top, Pop, and Slop.

– Kenneth Samples, from a lecture at my Sunday morning church class

1. “I hate to say it, but the truth is that there is no truth.”
2. “All truths are half-truths.”
3. “I’m certain you can never know anything for certain.”
4. “My [invisible] idea is that I only believe in what I see.”
5. “Everybody knows that nobody knows.”
6. [Without evidence] “I accept the principle that one should only believe in things that have evidence to support them.”
7. “My daddy told me, ‘Only believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.’”
8. “Okay, I’m absolutely certain that there are no absolutes.”
9. “Professor Samples, I would like to give you a few reasons why logic is invalid.”
10. “Objective morality may actually exist for you, but not for me.”
11. “We should be tolerant of all people, except those who are intolerant, like those Republican creeps!”
12. “The answer is that there are no answers.”
13. “No, it’s true that everything I say is a lie.”
14. “But, Professor Samples, if I can’t attack my opponent’s character, I have nothing left.”
15. “But what you don’t understand is that some ad hominems are true.”

Richard [of St. Victor: d. 1173] argued that if God were just one person, he could not be intrinsically loving, since for all eternity (before creation) he would have had nobody to love. If there were two persons, he went on, God might be loving, but in an excluding, ungenerous way. After all, when two persons love each other, they can be so infatuated with each other that they simply ignore everyone else—and a God like that would be very far from good news. But when the love between two persons is happy, healthy and secure, they rejoice to share it. Just so it is with God, said Richard. Being perfectly loving, from all eternity the Father and the Son have delighted to share their love and joy with and through the Spirit.

– Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic), 31.