Mathematicians and their Gods

Interactions between mathematics and religious beliefs

Snezana Lawrence and Mark McCartney

An engaging book on mathematics and religion, with 'stand-alone' chapters on topics.
Leading scholars from Europe and US have contributed to this book
Covering diverse subjects, from the belief that mathematical study can improve piety to mathematical proof of the existence of God.
Covering wide historical period, from Plato to the 20th century.

Mathematicians and their Gods

Interactions between mathematics and religious beliefs

Snezana Lawrence and Mark McCartney

Description

To open a newspaper or turn on the television it would appear that science and religion are polar opposites - mutually exclusive bedfellows competing for hearts and minds. There is little indication of the rich interaction between religion and science throughout history, much of which continues today. From ancient to modern times, mathematicians have played a key role in this interaction.

This is a book on the relationship between mathematics and religious beliefs. It aims to show that, throughout scientific history, mathematics has been used to make sense of the 'big' questions of life, and that religious beliefs sometimes drove mathematicians to mathematics to help them make sense of the world.

Containing contributions from a wide array of scholars in the fields of philosophy, history of science and history of mathematics, this book shows that the intersection between mathematics and theism is rich in both culture and character. Chapters cover a fascinating range of topics including the Sect of the Pythagoreans, Newton's views on the apocalypse, Charles Dodgson's Anglican faith and Gödel's proof of the existence of God.

Mathematicians and their Gods

Interactions between mathematics and religious beliefs

Snezana Lawrence and Mark McCartney

1:Introduction, Mark McCartney
2:The Pythagoreans: Number and Numerology, Andrew Gregory
3:Divine light, Allan Chapman
4:Kepler and his Trinitarian Cosmology, Owen Gingerich
5:The Lull before the storm: combinatorics in the Renaissance, Robin Wilson and John Fauvel
6:Mystical Arithmetic in the Renaissance: From Biblical Hermeneutics to a Philosophical Tool, Jean-Pierre Brach
7:Newton, God, and the mathematics of the Two Books, Rob Iliffe
8:Maria Gaetana Agnesi, mathematician of God, Massimo Mazzotti
9:Capital G for Geometry: Masonic lore and the history of geometry, Snezana Lawrence
10:Charles Dodgeson's Work for God, Mark Richards
11:P. G. Tait, Balfour Stewart and The Unseen Universe, Elizabeth Lewis
12:Faith and Flatland, Melanie Bayley
13:Gödel's "proof" for the existence of God, C Anthony Anderson

Mathematicians and their Gods

Interactions between mathematics and religious beliefs

Snezana Lawrence and Mark McCartney

Author Information

Snezana Lawrence, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education, Bath Spa University, and Mark McCartney, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Ulster

Snezana Lawrence is a Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education at Bath Spa University. She has been involved with a number of national and international initiatives to promote the use of the history of mathematics in mathematics education. Snezana is on the Advisory Board of the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics Group (an affiliate of the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction), and is Mathematics Programme Director of the Prince's Teaching Institute Schools' Programme. She in on the Editorial Boards of BSHM Bulletin (as Associate Editor from January 2013) and Mathematics Today. Her website mathsisgoodforyou.com has attracted more than 4 million visitors since its launch in 2005.

Mark McCartney is a Senior Lecturer in mathematics at the University of Ulster. His research and scholarly interests include nonlinear dynamics, mathematical modelling and the history of science. He is the editor (with Andrew Whitaker) of Physicists of Ireland (IOP, 2003) and (with Andrew Whitaker and Raymond Flood) of Kelvin - Life, Labours and Legacy (OUP, 2008) and James Clerk Maxwell - Perspectives on His Life and Work (OUP, 2014).

Contributors:

Anthony Anderson: Professor of Philosophy at the University of California
Melanie Bayley: Honorary Fellow of Kingston University
Jean-Pierre Brach: Directeur d'études at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
Allan Chapman: Oxford University
John Fauvel: Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at the Open University
Owen Gingerich: Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and History of Science at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Andrew Gregory: Reader in History of Science in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at University College London
Rob Iliffe: Professor of Intellectual History and the History of Science in the Department of History at the University of Sussex
Snezana Lawrence: Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education at Bath Spa University
Elizabeth Lewis: University of St Andrews
Massimo Mazzotti: Associate Professor in the Department of History and Director of the Office for the History of Science and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley
Mark McCartney: Senior Lecturer in mathematics at the University of Ulster
Mark Richards: Independent collector and researcher with a specialist interest in the life and works of Lewis Carroll
Robin Wilson: Emeritus Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University, Emeritus Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London

Mathematicians and their Gods

Interactions between mathematics and religious beliefs

Snezana Lawrence and Mark McCartney

Reviews and Awards

"Perhaps this is the most valuable contribution of Mathematicians and their Gods as a whole: it discusses ideas which must often appear strange to modern readers, and in explaining their context and influence helps us to understand how they captured the imaginations of our mathematical predecessors. This book will appeal to all those with an interest in mathematical history, regardless of their own religious views." - Paul Taylor, Mathematics Today

"Lawrence and McCartney's volume captures the various ways in which mathematics and religion have represented commensurable, even interconnected, systems of knowledge and belief. ... The collection will serve these readers well and could also benefit historians of science or theology unfamiliar with the ground covered in these essays." - Laura Kotevska, British Journal for the History of Science

"Lawrence and McCartney have done an admirable job in assembling a book of remarkable scholarship on a topic which challenges readers working in science or technology." - Giovanni Pistone, ESSSAT News & Reviews

"fascinating from cover to cover" - Michael N. Fried, Mathematical Thinking and Learning

Mathematicians and their Gods

Interactions between mathematics and religious beliefs

Snezana Lawrence and Mark McCartney

From Our Blog

Yes, maths can be for the amateur too

A friend of mine picked an argument with me the other day about how people go on about the beauty of mathematics, but this is not only not obvious to non-mathematicians, it cannot be accessed by those outside the field. Unlike, for example, the modern art, which is also not always obvious, mathematical beauty is elusive to all but the mathematicians. Or so he said.

Posted on September 16, 2015

Read the blog post

Sects, witches, and wizards-from Pythagoreans to Kepler

To start a conversation based on mathematics may seem to some to be one of the tasks inevitably converging towards the plot-line of Mission Impossible. Well, certainly there are more pressing things that would occupy people's minds, concerning international politics, the future of Europe, and the future of the Middle East. What's new?

Posted on August 31, 2015

Read the blog post

Will we ever need maths after school?

What is the purpose of mathematics? Or, as many a pupil would ask the teacher on a daily basis: 'When are we going to need this?' There is a considerably ruder version of a question posed by Billy Connolly on the internet, but let's not go there.

Posted on August 18, 2015

Read the blog post