In 1654, at the age of 31, Blaise Pascal had a religious experience that motivated him to turn his prodigious intelligence to the subjects of philosophy and theology.  He was already a follower of the Jansenist faction of the Catholic Church, which took its name from Dutch theologian Cornelius Jansen, emphasized the notions of predestination, human depravity, original sin, and the necessity of divine grace, and followed the teachings of Augustine of Hippo. He envisioned a comprehensive work in defense of Christianity often referred to as the Apology for the Christian Religion. The work was incomplete at the time of his death, and the fragments of ideas and notes were gathered together in a collection and published in 1670 under the title Pensées, or “thoughts”.  Among the groundbreaking ideas put forth is that of “Pascal's Wager”, which argues that people should live as if God exists, because if God does exist, one will experience only the small loss of some pleasure while achieving the bliss of heaven and avoiding the damnation of Hell. Although scholars believe that Pascal had planned the structure of the book and begun to cut and paste his notes accordingly, the initial editors and publishers had nothing to guide them, which has resulted in a continuing dispute over the proper order and repeated attempts to arrange the material in a systematic fashion.  Nevertheless, the work has become a classic work of theology and philosophy that many regard as the finest work of prose in the French language.