
Blaise Pascal on Duplicity, Sin, and the Fall
The Secret Instinct
William Wood(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 4. July 2013
Book
Hardback
252 pages
978-0-19-965636-3 (ISBN)
Description
Blaise Pascal's account of the cognitive consequences of the Fall is clearly set out by William Wood in the first book on Pascal's theology to appear in English in more than forty years. Wood's central claim is that for Pascal, the Fall is a fall into duplicity. Pascal holds that as fallen selves in a fallen world, human beings have an innate aversion to the truth that is also, at the same time, an aversion to God. According to Pascal, we are born into a duplicitous world that shapes us into duplicitous subjects, and so we find it easy to reject God continually and deceive ourselves about our own sinfulness. Pascal's account of the noetic effects of sin has long been overlooked by theologians, but it is both traditional and innovative. It is robustly Augustinian, with a strong emphasis on the fallen will, the darkened intellect, and the fundamental sin of pride. Yet it also embraces a view of subjectivity that seems strikingly contemporary. For Pascal, the self is a fiction, constructed from without by an already duplicitous world. The human subject is habituated to deception because it is the essential glue that holds his world together. This book offers more than just a novel interpretation of Pascal's Pensees. Wood demonstrates, by exegetical argument and constructive example, that 'Pascalian' theology is both possible and fruitful.
Reviews / Votes
On the whole, Wood's study on sin and self-deception starting from Pascal's PensA (c)es is very convincing ... This [is an] elegantly presented, imaginative and pithy work. * Jochen Schmidt, Theologische Literaturzeitung * There is much of value in this and the level of discussion is generally excellent. * John Henry, The Expository Times *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
521 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-965636-3 (9780199656363)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2013
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€77.49
Available for download
Person
William Wood, Fellow and Tutor in Theology, Oriel College, Oxford
Content
Introduction ; 1. The Evaluative Fall: Disordered Love and the Aversion to Truth ; 2. The Reign of Duplicity: Pascal s Political Theology ; 3. The Imaginary Self in a World of Illusion: Pascal on the Fallen Human Subject ; 4. Sin and Self-Deception in Pascal s Moral Theology ; 5. On Lying to Oneself: Analytic Philosophy on Self-Deception ; 6. A Pascalian Model of Sin as Self-Deception: Morally Culpable Self-Persuasion ; 7. The Way Back: On Loving the Truth