"Paul Griffiths has made himself an interlocutor with Pascal in order to make Pascal an interlocutor with us. In so doing, Pascal comes alive as a thinker ardently engaged with, and responsive to, what he reads and to the strangeness of the world he sees. In these estranging times, when discourse is uncivil, reading Pascal provides us with a thought-provoking conversation partner on topics keenly pertinent to people today: the order (and disorder) of things, anthropology, grace, politics, Jews and Judaism, and (perhaps most strangely of all) Christian revelation."?Ann Astell, University of Notre Dame"Paul Griffiths begins his discussion of Pascal by exploring the distinctive 'style' of his writings - encompassing dialectic, polemic, aphorism, and irony - and ends by commending those writings, not because they are always correct, but because they show us the strangeness both of the afflicted human condition and of the Christian remedy for that affliction. Griffiths own style - eloquent, lucid, playful, fearless - is a perfect tool for opening up Pascal for readers. One learns much from this book, both about Pascal and about how to read a text with charity and rigor. Perhaps most important, Griffiths writes in a way that welcomes disagreement so that, as Griffiths says of Pascal, we might say of Griffiths. Even when one disagrees with him, one comes away edified by being made to think rigorously about matters that matter."?Frederick Bauerschmidt, Loyola University
"Paul J. Griffiths gives us the complete Pascal: Augustinian anthropologist, rhetorician, political theorist, and - always, from beginning to end - faithful Catholic Christian. We should read Pascal because Pascal helps us understand what matters most. We should read Griffiths because Griffiths helps us understand Pascal. Why Read Pascal? is now the best short introduction to Pascal's philosophical and religious thought that I know."?William Wood, Oriel College, University of Oxford