This month I want to describe an unusual Christian apologist who has had an enormous influence on Christian thinkers since his time.
Blaise Pascal [see also the article 'Isn't Christianity Restrictive'] (1623–1662) died before the age of 39 and struggled with ill-health all his adult life. Yet, in that time he produced groundbreaking work in geometry, science and philosophy. He has a computer programming language named after him, along with a minor planet and a unit of measurement in science.
As a teenager he wrote textbooks on geometry and probability theory. In order to help his father with his tax returns he invented the first mechanical calculator. Blaise Pascal is the perfect example of a child prodigy and an adult genius.
Comedy, free speech and warnings from the past
Hannah Arendt was a Jewish philosopher who grew up in Nazi Germany. Eventually she had to flee to France and, …