How to Read Blaise Pascal: Grace, Modern Longing, and Wagering with Fire / Graham Tomlin

“Our longings are much more powerful than our logic, and our desires are stronger than our reason.” (Graham Tomlin on the thought of Blaise Pascal)

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Graham Tomlin (St. Mellitus College, the Centre for Cultural Witness) joins Evan Rosa for a sweeping exploration of Blaise Pascal—the 17th-century mathematician, scientist, philosopher, and theologian whose insights into human nature remain strikingly relevant. Tomlin traces Pascal’s life of brilliance and illness, his tension between scientific acclaim and radical devotion, and his deep engagement with Descartes, Montaigne, and Augustine. The conversation moves through Pascal’s analysis of self-deception, his critique of rationalism and skepticism, the transformative Night of Fire, his compassion for the poor, and the wager’s misunderstood meaning. Tomlin presents Pascal as a thinker who speaks directly to our distracted age, revealing a humanity marked by greatness, misery, and a desperate longing only grace can satisfy.

Episode Highlights

1. “Our longings are much more powerful than our logic, and our desires are stronger than our reason.”
2. “The greatness and the refuse of the universe—that’s what we are. We’re the greatest thing and also the worst thing.”
3. “If everybody knew what everybody else said about them, there would not be four friends left in the world.”
4. “Only grace can begin to turn that self-oriented nature around and implant in us a desire for God.”
5. “The reason you cannot believe is not because of your reason; it’s because of your passions.”

Show Notes

• Graham Tomlin introduces the Night of Fire and Pascal’s meditation on “the greatness of the human soul”
• Evan Rosa frames Pascal as a figure of mystery, mechanics, faith, and modern technological influence.
• Tomlin contrasts Pascal with Descartes and Montaigne—rationalism vs. skepticism—locating Pascal between their poles.
• Pascal’s awareness of distraction, competition, and “all men naturally hate each other” surfaces early as a key anthropological insight.
• Evan notes Nietzsche’s striking admiration: “his blood runs through my veins.”
• Tomlin elaborates on Pascal’s lifelong tension between scientific achievement and spiritual devotion.
• The story of the servant discovering the hidden Night of Fire parchment in Pascal’s coat lining is recounted.
• Tomlin reads the core text: “Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy… Let me never be separated from him.”
• Pascal’s distinction: “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers.”
• Discussion of Jansenism, Augustinian anthropology, and the gravity of human fallenness.
• Tomlin sets the philosophical context: Pascal as a counter to both rationalist optimism and skeptical relativism.
• Pascal’s core tension—grandeur and misery—is presented as the interpretive key to human nature.
• Quote emerges: “the greatness and the refuse of the universe—that’s what we are.”
• Tomlin describes Pascal’s political skepticism and the idea that politics offers only “rules for a madhouse.”
• Pascal’s diagnosis of self-deception: “If everybody knew what everybody else said about them, there would not be four friends left in the world.”
• Evan raises questions about social hope; Tomlin answers with Pascal’s belief that only grace can break self-love.
• They explore Pascal’s critique of distraction and the famous line: “the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.”
• Tomlin ties this to contemporary digital distraction—“weapons of mass distraction”.
• The conversation turns to the wager, reframed not as coercion but exposure: unbelief is driven by passions more than reasons.
• Closing reflections highlight the apologetic project of the Pensées, Pascal’s brilliance, and his ongoing relevance.

Helpful Links and References

Special thanks to the Center for Christian Witness and Seen and Unseen https://www.seenandunseen.com/

Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World, by Graham Tomlin https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/graham-tomlin/blaise-pascal/9781399807661/

Pensées, by Blaise Pascal https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18269

Provincial Letters, by Blaise Pascal https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2407

Why Being Yourself Is a Bad Idea, by Graham Tomlin

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Being-Yourself-Bad-Idea/dp/0281087097

Montaigne’s Essays https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3600

Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23306

Augustine’s Confessions https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3296

About Graham Tomlin

Graham Tomlin is a British theologian, writer, and church leader. He is the former Bishop of Kensington (2015-2022) in the Church of England and now serves as Director of the Centre for Cultural Witness and President of St Mellitus College in London. He is widely known for connecting theology with cultural life and public imagination. Tomlin is the author of several books, including Looking Through the Cross, The Widening Circle, and Why Being Yourself Is a Bad Idea: And Other Countercultural Notions. His latest book is an intellectual and spiritual biography, Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World.

Production Notes

• This episode was made possible in part by the generous support of the Tyndale House Foundation
• This podcast featured Graham Tomlin
• Production Assistance by Emily Brookfield and Alexa Rollow
• Edited and Produced by Evan Rosa
• Hosted by Evan Rosa
• A production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/about
• Support For the Life of the World by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give