Mathematics and the Biblical Text

What does mathematics have to do with the Biblical text? Isn’t 2 + 2 = 4 everywhere? Doesn’t everyone—regardless of religion, culture, or point of view—see it the same way? Actually, mathematics is not just facts and figures; it may surprise people to know it also includes a worldview—a philosophy with implications for how to approach it and how to use it. Not only so, but mathematicians disagree about mathematical facts and processes: some reject what others accept, disputing even what constitutes mathematical proof—and one mathematician proved we cannot know it all ! Yet so incredibly effective is mathematics in describing and explaining physical phenomena, and even some of the most chaotic of human enterprises, that the universe appears to have been designed by a pure mathematician. Through most of history, mathematics has been intimately tied to religious and philosophical beliefs. Is that any less true today if it is approached “secularly”? The mathematics in this book is mainly confined to high school level so it should not be too difficult to understand. Included are applications—and scriptures that help students learn mathematics. Whether involved in education, or using mathematics on a job, or just interested in mathematics or philosophy, each reader is offered something to ponder.