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Challenging Modern Atheism and Indifference is the first English translation of Pierre Manent’s penetrating engagement with the seventeenth century polymath and apologist for the Christian faith, Blaise Pascal.
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) was the first Christian apologist to address modern human beings on their own terms and present a defense of the Christian religion that still resonates today. A major publishing and intellectual event in France when it first appeared in 2022, Challenging Modern Atheism and Indifference is Pierre Manent’s investigation of Pascal’s exploration of Christianity in the wake of a sharp atheistic turn at the dawn of the modern state and modern science. Comprehensive in scope and profound in treatment, this engagement with all of Pascal’s writings, including his famous Pensées, appeals to the reader’s head and heart. Manent emphasizes the joy that comes from engaging the truth of faith, and he argues that we are diminished by forgetting the unique and distinctive contributions of Christianity.
More than brilliant exegesis, Manent enlists Pascal in a much greater endeavor: to make what he calls “the Christian proposition” concerning God and man intelligible to Europeans who have made it their business to ignore the religion that founded Europe and the larger Western world.
"As an eminent figure in the rediscovery of the French liberal tradition, Manent has primarily been concerned with classical liberalism and questions of civic life and democracy. Here, however, Manent turns his gaze to the tension-ridden intersection of Christianity and politics, finding in Pascal a source of sober and humane political judgment—and a Christian apologetics highly relevant to contemporary Europe." —The Hedgehog Review
"Manent’s Pascal is a proposal for a focal point for European history where ancient science and Christianity, as well as modern science and the decline of the church intersect in his life." —Civitas Outlook
"In Challenging Modern Atheism and Indifference, Manent has provided an introduction to Pascal’s thought as well as a serious exploration of the political, personal, and religious needs of our moment. He is one of a very few political theorists rising to the challenge of his time, and it is a privilege to read him." —Religion & Liberty
“Manent ventures boldly into the centuries-long conversation on the interpretation of Pascal, armed with a lifetime of deep study of the human condition, and distracted by no concern or agenda other than to see the truth in all possible clarity. The fruit of his effort is a sustained and multifaceted reflection that is clearly an epochal contribution to Pascal studies and gift of the highest value to all those who ponder what it means to be human.” —Ralph C. Hancock, author of Calvin and the Foundation of Modern Politics
“Manent turns to Pascal to recover the distinctiveness of the Christian proposition, to remind contemporary readers what Christianity is, and why it matters.” —Thomas S. Hibbs, author of A Theology of Creation
"Pierre Manent, the elder statesman of French political philosophy, re-interprets Pascal for our times, kindling hope for a faithful future. . . . Any serious Western thinker today should give thanks to Manent for reminding us of Pascal, and the enormity and urgency of his proposition." —The Catholic World Report
"Manent is a leading political philosopher and interpreter of other great thinkers. His book on Blaise Pascal is no exception. . . . Pascal emerges from this book as a serious philosopher with much to tell us in the 21st century. This book will interest all students of early modern political philosophy and the philosophy of religion." —Choice
"An erudite yet charming reminder to his fellow countrymen to reread Pascal. . . . Manent has offered this book to the world at an axial time in the religious history of his country." —Public Discourse
"Among the books on Pascal, [Challenging Modern Atheism and Indifference] is perhaps the clearest, most forceful, and most comprehensive exposition of his thought, particularly as his writings touch upon political matters—a topic almost universally neglected in the Pascalian literature." —Interpretation
"This is a lucid and incisive book. It is also highly accessible to those coming from different scholarly disciplines and intellectual angles. Of the many potent and potentially enduring features of the book, a salient one is Manent's recognition, alongside Pascal's, that the coming before a choice of the heart is ultimately contingent on grace—that only God himself will take the genuine seeker over the finish line, that only God will validate the proposition." —The Review of Metaphysics
"I close the book and look at the cover, featuring an image of a church and a lantern lit in the darkness of the night. I do not know if this is how the designers intended it, but it is significant. Precisely because Christians believe that Christ is the Light of the world, it would be sad and tragic to extinguish or neglect other lights. In this instance—it being nighttime—were that electric light to go out—an invention of modern human ingenuity—we would not even see the church." —Augustinus 70
Pierre Manent is professor emeritus of political philosophy at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. He is the author of numerous books, including Montaigne: Life without Law.
Paul Seaton is an independent scholar of political philosophy, with a special focus on French political thought. He has written extensively on modern and contemporary French thinkers, as well as translated works by Rémi Brague, Benjamin Constant, Chantal Delsol, and Pierre Manent.
Daniel J. Mahoney is a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute and professor emeritus at Assumption University.
Foreword by Daniel J. Mahoney
Translator’s Introduction
Author’s Foreword: Europe and the Question of Christianity
1. Confronting Atheism
2. How God Comes to Man
3. To Prove God?
4. The Human Phenomenon
5. Force and Justice in Human Order
6. The Illusions of the Self
7. Greatness and Misery
8. Liberator and Mediator
9. The Style of the Gospel
10. Certainty and Salvation
Conclusion: Fear and Joy