Proofs, Pride, And Incarnation

Abstract

"In his Pensées, Blaise Pascal left us the memorable and often remarkable fragments of what would have been his systematic defense of the Christian religion had death not tragically intervened at age thirty-nine. Despite his apologetic ambitions Pascal was an ardent opponent of natural theology, or what he called the "metaphysical proofs"1 for God's existence. He did not argue merely that natural theology is not required for Christian belief to be rational, as does Alvin Plantinga. Pascal's claim was stronger: Natural theology is theologically taboo. Others such as Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, Herman Bavinck and Cornelius Van Til have staked similar claims"