faith. Les Provinciales, 18 essays regarded as brilliant irony and satire, attacked the Jesuits and defended Jansenists’ demand for a return to morality and Augustine’s belief in divine grace. The Catholic church placed Les Provinciales on the Index, condemning it but failing to quell the controversy it stirred. Pensées, a collection of Pascal’s “thoughts” he intended to present as a Christian apology, was published after his death. In it, he portrayed humankind as suspended between wretchedness