{"id":293,"date":"2021-11-03T23:01:02","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T23:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cbutlc\/?p=293"},"modified":"2022-08-16T19:03:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T19:03:54","slug":"answering-livios-question-is-god-a-mathematician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cbutlc\/2021\/11\/03\/answering-livios-question-is-god-a-mathematician\/","title":{"rendered":"Answering Livio\u2019s question: Is God a Mathematician?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Kenneth Nehrbass<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is God a mathematician?<\/em> asks astrophysicist Mario Livio (2009). To evangelicals, the question may sound like Livio is interested in how the laws of the universe point to a God who created such an orderly universe, with purpose and brilliance. However, while the field of faith integration has helped Christians to make such connections between creation and God\u2019s character (Poythress, 2015), Christendom has not always been quick to embrace the notion that the laws of nature are God\u2019s \u201cother book\u201d (ie., His handiwork on display for us to marvel at His beauty). Livio\u2019s question can be answered by exploring four related questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.      If math is supreme, what room is there for God?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Actually, the nuances of Livio\u2019s question demonstrate that many people \u00a0(whether Christian or not) believe that \u00a0mathematics subverts the faith. Livio\u2019s question may be more accurately posed, \u201cCan all that we used to ascribe to God really be explained by mathematicians?\u201d For example, if we can use math to discover the probability of a hurricane hitting the coast of Florida this year, or the likelihood of a man in Zambia living to the age of 76, what room is there to describe natural disasters as \u201cacts of God\u201d or death as an event that comes in \u201cGod\u2019s timing?\u201d Or if mathematicians can calculate the probability (not the \u201cchance\u201d) of any number turning up through the roll of a pair of dice, how does God figure into the equation? On a grander scale, despite formulating the law of gravity, Newton could only conceive that it was God\u2019s hand which held the planets eternally<\/em> in orbit. However, once physicists used mathematics to calculate the rate that the universe has been expanding (only to collapse at some point), how then should we conceive of God\u2019s role in holding the universe together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where do the laws of math come from?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s role in all of this has to do with the origin of the laws of math. As early as Plato, thinkers have tried to understand what put these mathematical \u201claws\u201d into place. Are they human, divine, or simply \u201cthere?\u201d Math seems to be perfect, its laws are unbreakable, and it is true for all times and places\u2014these are characteristics we usually reserve only for God. Are mathematical truths eternally true, because they are located in God\u2019s very nature? Or are they contingent truths, created by Him, but nonetheless perfect and eternal? Or are the laws of math and physics merely human inventions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christians have tended to be empiricists, believing that natural laws were established by an omnipresent, omnipotent and eternal God, yet can be discovered through rational thought and empirical study.  However, if mathematical laws are true apart from human existence (ie., they are not social constructs), and in fact are true regardless of whether matter ever existed, then they must belong to the realm of \u201cideas\u201d rather than the realm of matter. If that\u2019s the case, why<\/em> does the universe \u2013 made up of physical matter \u2013 obey something from the world of ideas? This points to the mystery of the relationship between the eternal and the created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.      What is the relationship between the eternal and the material world?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Livio explains that what finally helped scientists find the connection between the physical world and the world of ideas was an innovation from Rene Descartes. Note that Livio is not referring to Descartes\u2019\u00a0 famous effort to prove his own existence (and God\u2019s)- in fact, the success of Cartesian philosophy is questionable, because as soon as Descartes published it, French philosophers pointed out, \u201cYour entire argument relies on human reason, but you have not shown that human reason is reliable.\u201d That\u2019s why Descartes went on to argue the ramifications of Anselm\u2019s \u00a0(more enigmatic) ontological<\/a> argument for God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, Livio points out, it was Descartes\u2019 discovery of the relationship between algebra and geometry\u2014something that plagued mathematicians for 2000 years \u2013 that had a more lasting impact. (He discovered that any line, circle, wave, etc., on a graph can be expressed in algebra, and vice versa). Before Descartes, algebra belonged to the world of ideas\u2014it was believed to be true eternally, whereas Euclidean geometry belonged to the physical world\u2014because it describes spatial relationships. Descartes\u2019 discovery of the connection between algebra and spatial planes \u00a0allowed for mathematicians to BEGIN looking for connections between the physical world and the world of mathematical laws\/ideas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this realization that the physical universe obeys laws which can be written algebraically, Livio explains, Newton was able to develop calculus. The real breakthrough was not as much that Newton found an algebraic equation for gravity\u2014though this was remarkable, and has been shown to be accurate to the distance of 1\/56,000 of a mm (p. 218). The real advance was Newton\u2019s theory that the laws of gravity on earth<\/em> are true everywhere in the cosmos. Math could explain the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the physical world (geometry) could be explained with the world of ideas (math), what else could math do? Could it explain the orbits? (Livio explains that earlier scientists presumed that the orbits would be elliptical, but it was not until Kepler that we knew the equation for them). Could mathematical laws be used to test the logic of philosophy? (Boole showed how this was possible, in the 19th<\/sup> century).  Livio traces mathematicians\u2019 efforts since Descartes to explain just about everything, including behaviors that we find in human-made institutions. Some examples include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n