Mathematics of the Maker
So we have an ambitious aim and a wide scope, but does the venture work? Well, this reviewer's verdict is 'only partially'. Byl makes some good points and has some telling quotations but I do not think that he makes the most compelling case possible. Firstly, I think he presumes too much on the mathematical and logical knowledge of the reader. I find such sentences as 'It is for this reason constructivists reject the Power Set Axiom for infinite sets as well as Cantor's transfinite numbers' rather opaque. I suspect I am not alone.
Chris Walley
THE DIVINE CHALLENGE
On Matter, Mind, Maths & Meaning
By John Byl
Banner of Truth. 319 pages. £8.95
ISBN 0 85151 887 7
John Byl is both a Christian in the Reformed tradition and Professor of Mathematics at Trinity Western University, British Columbia, and this book centres on his interests in mathematics and logic. The book's cover claims that his argument is 'that the Christian worldview provides the only foundation for logic, mathematics, science and morality'. These broad goals are confirmed by such chapter headings as: 'Mysteries of Matter, Chance, Cause and Chaos', 'From Matter to Mind', 'From Mind to Math', 'Beyond Naturalism, The Christian Worldview'.
