The Jansenist theologian of grace, known as the Great Arnauld to distinguish him from other members of his family, was a tireless worker with encyclopedic interests. Although his point of view was always moral and religious even when treating nontheological issues, his work in such areas as philosophy and rhetoric, rather than his incessant defense of Augustinianism, is most alive today. The defender of theological tradition is most relevant in fields he considered peripheral. While his importance to philosophy is generally recognized, his contributions to many of the literary debates of his day dealing with grammar, theories regarding translation, and eloquence have been less appreciated because of the fragmentary way in which he treated them.

Antoine Arnauld's companion in exile during his last years and first biographer, Pasquier Quesnel, divides Arnauld's life into four periods: from his birth until the publication of his first major polemical work in...