raries but were readily embraced by the 19th century thinkers. Blaise Pascal, was a French mathematician and philosophical thinker. Blaise became torn between the dogmatism and skepticism of the time. His goal was to write a piece of work that would combine the two. He rejected the skeptics of his age because they either were either atheist or accepted the divine idea of religion. His collection of reflections on humankind and religion were published under the title Pensees. Pascal supported the Jansenites who shared in the belief in human being’s total sinfulness and their complete dependence on faith and grace. An idea similar to that of Calvinists. Pascal believed that science was independent of religion. According to Pascal, there were two essential truths in the Christian religion: that loving God, worthy of human attainment exists and that human beings are utterly unworthy of God because of their corruptive nature. Pascal was convinced that the belief in God improved life both psychologically and disciplined it morally. He worked to strengthen traditional religious belief and urged his peers to seek self-understanding by learned ignorance and recognizing misery. These men were shunned by their contemporaries. They were beyond their time, with revolutionary ideas in a world that wasn’t ready for it. It was only in later times were these men embraced for their ingenuity and intellect. ...
