Writings on Grace and Treatise Concerning Predestination Summary and Analysis

In the Writings on Grace, Pascal attempts to present his theology as orthodox Christianity, in line with St. Augustine and as a view that finds a middle ground between the heresies of Molinism and Calvinism. For Pascal, each human being appears to be unable by himself to do anything to move himself towards salvation, and so Pascal seems to hold that each person deserves eternal torment.

Pascal opens the Writings by assessing the statement of the Council of Trent that, "The commandments are not impossible for the justified". The first meaning of this term on Pascal's read is that the justified person always has the ability to follow the commandments, which is a Pelagian heresy always repudiated. The second holds that the justified individual acting with charity can obey...