Mathematics and the Divine - a brief review

Mathematics and the Divine

A Historical Study

Edited by Teun Koetsier, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and 

Luc Bergmans, University of Paris IV Sorbonne, Paris, France

Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004

hbk, 716 Pages

ISBN  978-0-444-50328-2

In 35 chapters, with 34 authors and 716 pages this is book explores history, philosophy, theology and the metaphysics of mathematics. I know of no other book that does just that.

Most of the usual suspects are here: Descartes, Pascal, Kepler, Galileo, Euler and Cantor. Others less 'usual' are  Nicomachus of Gerasa, Nicholas of Cusa, Johannes Faulhaber, Athanasius Kircher, John Wallis, Gerrit Mannoury and René Guénon. The emphasis is on people and movements rather than topics in maths  - except where individuals are involved, e.g. infinity in the context of Cantor. The one exception is on 'divined proportion' which takes a look at the Golden ratio. The chapters are in topic chronological order.

It is good to see that it is not only Western mathematicians that are included; so we have chapters on Chinese number mysticism, mathematical models in Indian cosmology and geography in Islam. 

Contents

Introduction 

1. Ho Peng-Yoke, Chinese Number Mysticism 

2. Kim Plofker, Derivation and Revelation: the Legitimacy of Mathematical Models in Indian Cosmology 

3. Reviel Netz, The Pythagoreans 

4. Ian Mueller, Mathematics and the Divine in Plato 

5. Jean-François Mattei, Nicomachus of Gerasa and the Divine Arithmetical Ladder 

6. Dominic J. O'Meara, Geometry and the Divine in Proclus 

7. Marie-Pierre Terrien, Religious Architecture and Mathematics during Late Antiquity 

8. David A. King, The Sacred Geography of Islam 

9. Faith Wallis, 'Number Mystique' in early medieval computus texts

10. Maurice-Ruben Hayoun, Is the Divine Universe Divisible 

11. Charles Lohr, Mathematics and the Divine: Ramon Lull 

12. Hugue Garcia, Christian Gnosis 

13. Edith Dudley Sylla, Swester Katrei and Gregory of Rimini: Angels, God and Mathematics in the Fourteenth Century 

14. Jean-Michel Counet, Mathematics and the Divine in Nicholas of Cusa 

15. Teun Koetsier and Karin Reich, Michael Stifel and his Numerology 

16. Ivo Schneider, Between Rosicrucians and Kabbala - the Mathematics of the Biblical Numbers of Johannes Faulhaber 

17. Eberhard Knobloch, Mathematics and the Divine: Athanasius Kircher 

18. Volker R. Remmert, Galileo, God and Mathematics 

19. André Charrak, The Mathematical Model of Creation According to Kepler 

20. Jean-Marie Nicolle, The Mathematical Analogy in the Proof of God's Existence by Descartes

21. Donald Adamson, Pascal's Views on Mathematics and the Divine 

22. Ger Harmsen, Spinoza and the Geometrical Method of Proof 

23. Philip Beeley and Siegmund Probst, John Wallis (1616-1703): Mathematician and Divine 

24. Kees de Pater, Newton and the Ocean of Truth 

25. Herbert Breger, Leibniz: Mathematics and the Divine 

26. Wolfgang Breidert, Berkeley's Defence of the Infinite God in Contrast to the Infinite in Mathematics 

27. Ruediger Thiele, Leonhard Euler and the Divine 

28. Ruediger Thiele, Georg Cantor and the Divine 

29. Luc Bergmans, Gerrit Mannoury and his Fellow Significians on Mathematics and Mysticism 

30. Teun Koetsier, Arthur Schopenhauer and L. E. J. Brouwer: A Comparison 

31. Sergei S. Demidov and Charles E. Ford, On the Road to a Unified View: Priest Pavel Florensky - Theologian, Philosopher and Scientist 

32. François De Gandt, Husserl and Impossible Numbers: a Sceptical Experience 

33. Bruno Pinchard, Symbol and Space According to René Guénon 

34. Teun Koetsier, Eddington: Science and the Unseen World 

35. Albert van der Schoot, The Divined Proportion