The seventeenth century, a period of immense intellectual and religious turmoil in France, provides the backdrop for Blaise Pascal's Provincial Letters, a scathing critique of the Jesuits and their moral theology. To understand the power of Pascal's polemic, one must first appreciate the historical context of the time, a period marked by a confrontation between old and new religious ideas, the consolidation of monarchal power, and a complex intellectual landscape. The Catholic Church itself was embroiled in conflict, both within its own ranks and with the burgeoning Protestant Reformation that had swept across Europe in the previous century. Against this volatile backdrop, the Jesuits, founded in 1540 by the Spanish noble Ignatius of Loyola, had quickly risen to prominence.