The Gallican Context for Pascal's Writings on Grace. (December 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Briggs, Robin
• Is Part Of: Seventeenth-century French studies. Volume 35:Number 2(2013)
• Page Start: 125
• Page End: 135
• Publication Date: 2013-12
• Subjects: France -- Civilization -- 17th century -- Periodicals; French literature -- 17th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; 944.033
• DOI: 10.1179/0265106813Z.00000000029
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0265-1068

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>This article sets Pascal's views on grace in the context of the intense disputes within the Catholic Church of his time, which were particularly divisive in France. The effective repudiation of St Augustine's teachings on grace, to which the church would never openly admit, was largely driven by the pastoral needs of the Catholic Reform, yet the Jansenists, themselves determined but conservative supporters of such reform, could never accept such compromises with the world. For all the charm of his writings, Pascal advocated an austere form of Christianity which reflected both his own deep inner tensions and the radical pessimism of Jansenism.</p> </abstract>