Religious mathematicians

• SUMMARY: Despite the emphasis in mathematics on logic, empiricism, and proof, many mathematicians have been influenced by religion.

In large part because of writings from the ancient world, cosmological and metaphysical dimensions of mathematical reasoning became closely connected with theological concerns, particularly in the West. Consequently some mathematical practitioners, communicators, and professionals used their knowledge to illuminate religious beliefs and doctrines. Others responded to spiritual convictions in ways that shaped their view of mathematics. Many influential mathematicians are religious, even in the twenty-first century. Noted Islamic mathematician Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi’s ninth-century algebra treatise Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala originated the term “algebra,” and the pious preface illustrates his Muslim beliefs. Brahmin mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) attributed his mathematical ability to the Hindu goddess Namagiri, his family deity. In the twenty-first century, some religious mathematicians have established formal groups, such as the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences. There are also examples of religious leaders like Bharati Krishna Tirthaji, who also wrote mathematical works. Throughout history, there are mathematicians who have been persecuted because of religion. For example, mathematician Ludwig Bieberbach spoke out against Jewish professors in Germany, beginning in 1933. Mathematical historians and others have examined the contributions of people of various religions, such as the Incan religion or the percentage of Jewish mathematicians who have received mathematics’ highest awards. Overall, there are numerous cases of those who dedicated themselves to working at, as well as commenting on, the intersection of religion and mathematics.

The Tension between Religion and Mathematics 

Throughout history, a tension has existed between religious adherents and those of the natural sciences, where, an understanding of mathematics is foundational. Many, on both sides insisted a person could only exist in one camp or the other. Thus, an individual had to decide whose law dictated the working of the universe. This was to align an allegiance to a divine being or, instead, to human “science” or “reason.”   

These two approaches could be mutually incompatible. Humanists could minimize those of religious faith as superstitious, while conversely, the religious-minded commented that their counterparts made science, reason, and human beings themselves, as their deities of choice. Many figures symbolized this historical tension, including Charles Darwin and his Theory of Natural Selection, Noam Chomsky, and Steven Hawkings.  Other scientists, mathematicians, and biologists instead saw compatibilities between religious belief and the natural sciences.  

Roger Bacon

The legacy of Classical thinkers, most notably Plato and Aristotle, significantly influenced perspectives on mathematics through the Early Modern period (through the sixteenth century). One particular concern addressed during this long period involved articulating the appropriate relationships between mathematics and natural philosophy. Roger Bacon (1214–1294) dedicated much of his writing to establishing mathematics as an essential starting point for investigating fundamental areas of knowledge, which included both science and moral philosophy. Making such a claim had important theological implications that Bacon was keen to make explicit. Specifically, he maintained that those dedicated to the promotion of Christianity were obliged to teach mathematics, as this knowledge is prerequisite for the complete and correct interpretation of the scripture. For Bacon, the effective execution of both exegesis and church administration required the development of mathematical skills.

Nicholas Cusanus

Nicholas Cusanus (1401–1464), though primarily remembered for his philosophical and theological treatises, expended considerable effort on the problem of squaring the circle. His dedication went beyond that of many; for him the problem was replete with spiritual significance. For example, he admitted the impossibility of solving the problem exactly, yet continued to develop compass and ruler constructions that could provide a solution within a specific degree of accuracy. Any apparent inconsistency in these attitudes is explained by Cusanus’ understanding of the divine. Specifically, humankind has no means for knowing God with certainty, although it can strive for increasingly more exact approximations of such unattainable knowledge. Much of Cusanus’ exposition emphasizes practical reasoning based on geometrical figures. It does so as a way of underscoring the limitations of conjectural knowledge that, while inescapable, consistently encourage more fulsome reflection.

Blaise Pascal

His many achievements notwithstanding, Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) claimed that acquiring mathematical knowledge is of lesser significance than attaining spiritual knowledge. Still, his understanding of mathematics supports the positions he adopted on several theological matters. For example, the emerging notion of mathematical probability he helped to develop suggested to him that even though deterministic processes governed human salvation, individual outcomes could not be predicted with certainty. His belief that humankind should seriously consider the difference between seeking pleasure in this life and eternal happiness after death as a wager is indicative of influences that gave rise to probabilistic theorizing.

John Wallis

A theologian by training, John Wallis (1616–1703) was also the third Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford. His long-running dispute with philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) partly focused on the nature of the infinite—in its potential and actual manifestations—and ranged across the domains of both mathematics and religion. Mathematical considerations also feature, if largely as a source of analogy, in his defense of Trinitarianism within the Anglican tradition. Like other mathematical divines who followed him, Wallis ultimately sought to promote religious doctrine in the face of new developments in mathematics and science that might undermine fundamental tenets.

Evidence of the ways in which Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716) melded mathematical and religious thinking can be found across various essays and tracts. The essential feature of his position holds that the perfection of mathematics serves to reflect the perfection of God. Moreover, he believed that reason provided the most effective means of promoting true religion. The calculus ratiocinator emerges in relation to this fundamental belief. He maintained that reasoning based on the strict use of rules and symbols could serve religion in its capacity to convince nonbelievers. Additionally, Leibniz considered the binary representation of numbers to be strongly associated with the Creation, in which God created everything from nothing. That the binary representations of numbers exhibit periodic patterns in their digits was further evidence of the harmony embedded within God’s creation.

The use of infinitesimals in Leibniz’s development of calculus also exemplifies aspects of his theological position. They were essential to attaining knowledge of the infinite complexity of God’s creation. For Leibniz, the contingent truths of the world were like irrational numbers insofar as they could only be approximated with finite methods.

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton (1643–1727) opposed the metaphysical speculation of Leibniz and others, advocating instead the purer considerations associated with natural philosophy. Consequently, disagreements with Leibniz took on theological as well as mathematical dimensions. Newton was also a Unitarian—he did not subscribe to the notion of the Holy Trinity. This theological position bears on tensions he felt as the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics that he held at Cambridge (1669–1702). His heretical view made the idea of ordination in the Church of England, then a requirement of all fellows of Cambridge and Oxford, untenable. Even so, his 1687 text, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, reflects Newton’s belief in an omnipresent God who created the universe and can intervene in its affairs. The rationalism represented by the text appealed to deists, who took a slightly different view. While sharing Newton’s belief in His omnipresence, they denied that God takes an active role in the affairs of His creation.

Maria Agnesi

The contributions to mathematics made by Maria Agnesi (1718–1799) lie primarily in compiling and disseminating its knowledge. Her efforts also served a religious function as part of the Catholic reform movement of the eighteenth century, which sought to incorporate new modes of thought into teaching without jeopardizing church orthodoxy. The movement also called for extending educational opportunities, especially for women. Agnesi’s efforts to present a practical account of analytic geometry and calculus are underpinned by these reformist commitments, as well as beliefs she shared with others regarding the power of mathematics, and its distinctive infallibility to religious contemplation. Her decision to develop her popular 1784 textbook Analytical Institutions, in ways that privilege geometric reasoning, which contrasts with the Leibnizian approach adopted by many of her Continental contemporaries, reflects these beliefs.

George Boole

Sensitive to the professional expectations of his day, mathematician and logician George Boole (1815–1864) carefully controlled expressions of his contentious and eclectic religious beliefs during his lifetime. There is little doubt, however, that an important aspect of his 1854 work, the Laws of Thought, was influenced by particular events and views having spiritual significance for him. Through an acquaintance with a Hebrew scholar during his youth, Boole became familiar with the Judaic tradition of describing the Divine in terms of an all-encompassing, if unknowable, unity. Later revelations, some mystical in natural, regarding this unitary perspective bore on his efforts to recast logic as an algebraic system. In particular, the use of the symbol 1 to denote any universe of thought is an essential feature of the Boolean system. According to his wife, the source of much of the reliable bibliographic information on her husband, Boole was working on an unpublished text that was intended to emphasize the spiritual significance of the Laws of Thought during the final years of his life.

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