“Numbers are the universal language given to us by the deity as confirmation of the truth.” ~ St. Augustine
Numbers are interesting. Provided that you know the base number, you can do an infinite number of calculations. Much of reality can be described by a set of mathematical equations. There is an inherent beauty in the symmetry of numbers present in both physics and astronomy. In fact, one could argue that the best of the mathematicians and the best of the cosmologists come close to expressing something of the creative beauty of God in their equations.
Unfortunately, there are those who try to separate faith and mathematics and science and reason. Dr. Francis Collins is a “born again Christian” and the Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. He wrote a book called, “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief,†in which he bewails the chasm between science and faith. A couple of years ago he said, “Science is not threatened by God; it is enhanced. God is most certainly not threatened by science; He made it all possible.â€
May I suggest that you read his book?
This is a great post!
Mathematics requires a lot of faith and is full of mystery. Calculus is about imagining what would happen when a value becomes infinitesimal or approaches infinity, both of which are never truly reached. An integration problem results in a constant “C”, or error value; the answer is never perfectly known. Interpolation is the art of approximating an unknown from what is known. And the value for PI is never reached. But it is strange that both mathematics and theology seem to attract those who crave absolute certainty rather than mystery.
Donald Knuth (the “Father of Computer Science” has given a set of lectures, published in a book as “Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About”. It’s a great book, especially about extra large numbers and God. (He’s a Lutheran)
He also did a project he talkes about in the lectures where he translated every 3:16 verse in the Bible and had some Art made of each. It is beautiful.
“Numbers are the universal language given to us by the deity as confirmation of the truth.” You attribute this to Saint Augustine, but without saying the source …
Are you SURE it is really from Saint Augustine?
On Christian Doctrine, Book III, Chapter 35, Paragraph 51 has a paragraph that could be summed up as that sentence. However, though the sentence itself is referenced in many places, I could not find the exact quote.
where did Augustin write abut numbers, and especially perfect numbers? Was it in God’s house (The City of God) or in The trinity? He wrote that six is a perfect number?