Why Stanley Hauerwas Needs Blaise Pascal: Sin, Anthropology, and Christian Witness

Abstract

This article investigates the similarities between the ethics and theology of Blaise Pascal and Stanley Hauerwas regarding natural law, original sin and witness, in order to support Pascal as an important thinker for Christian ethics. It argues that Pascal’s theological anthropology is an important contribution to Hauerwas’ ethics by elucidating less clear dimensions of his thought, such as how it is that witness ought to proceed and might be effective despite human sinfulness, and the relation between human corruption and a rejection of natural law. This also serves to support the argument that Pascal is an important figure for Christian ethics, despite being largely neglected.