Mathematics: Is God Silent? [Paperback]

James Nickel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

This book revolutionizes the prevailing understanding and teaching of math. The addition of this book is a must for all upper-level Christian school curricula and for college students and adults interested in math or related fields of science and religion. It will serve as a solid refutation for the claim, often made in court, that mathematics is one subject, which cannot be taught from a distinctively Biblical perspective.

Product Details

• Paperback: 434 pages
• Publisher: Ross House Books; Revised edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 187999822X
• ISBN-13: 978-1879998223
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Nickel, B.A. (Mathematics), B.Th., B.Miss., M.A. (Education), Senior Fellow in Mathematics and Education at the Center for Cultural Leadership, taught high school mathematics in the late 1970s in Hawaii, in the 1980s in Australia, and from 2005 to 2012 in Washington State and online. He also has nearly 30 years of experience in Information Technology holding positions from programmer to Senior Technical Analyst. In the 1970s, as a Mathematical Analyst, he worked for the United States Navy where he designed test software for the F14-A Tomcat and the Tomahawk Cruise Missile at Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station in California.

In addition to his authorship of Mathematics: Is God Silent? (Ross House Books, [1990] 2001), he is currently writing three other books: (1) The Dance of Number: Explorations in the mastery of computation and the pattern of numbers, (2) Mathematics: Building on Foundations (Mathematical explorations from Counting to Calculus) and (3) Tapestries of the Incarnation, a theological/historical analysis of the infancy narratives of the Gospels.

For more information of his work and writings, refer to his web site: http://www.biblicalchristianworldview.net

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 59 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece: Tracing the Historical Significance of Math October 28, 2000

By Richard Routh

Format:Paperback

James Nickel's work is a masterpiece! It does an excellent job of tracing the historical development of mathematics and reviewing its impact on history and philosophy. It is relatively easy reading, but not for lower than the high school level. Nickel clearly communicates the loud voice mathematics has had in showing God's hand in creation. He shows, from philosophical history, the societal implications when men fail to explicitily recognize God's role in mathematics.

64 of 84 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Good material, weak argument. December 28, 2002

By Fred Brooks

Format:Paperback

This is a pretty good book on the history and philosophy of mathematics for interested laymen and high-school and college students. There is a wealth of interesting material, an extensive bibliography, and a careful and complete index.

The central philosphical argument is that the similarity of structure of the physical world and that of many branches of mathematics shows that God made them both, and therefore that mathematics is Platonically pre-existing and hence discovered, not invented, by man.

The fallacy, I think, is that most of mathematics, and especially most of the mathematics Nickel cites, was occasioned and designed for the explicit purpose of providing models for nature. In short, I cannot be surprised that the models resemble the things modeled, any more than that a map should resemble the terrain it describes. .

As an evangelical Christian mathematician and computer scientist, I was hoping for a book that set forth the "discovered, not invented" argument with logical clarity, for I have been puzzled by that view. Disappointingly, this book isn't it. Fundamentally it presses the argument first by assertion, and then by testimonials of agreement by various mathematicians. Nickels also extensively uses quotations from the many works of theologian and philosopher of science Stanley Jaki. He does not, so far as I see, address the "mathematics as modeling tool" argument.

Nickels does a fair and clear job of expressing what he calls "the majority view", that mathematics is invented, and he cites various scientists holding that view.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource for Home Schoolers May 9, 2012

By Bill Patterson

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I wish "Mathematics: Is God Silent?" had been available 35 years ago, when I first began my public school teaching career. It provides clear answers to "How to teach mathematics from a Biblical viewpoint?" It is historically and mathematically accurate. It makes math pertinent to real life and therefore enjoyable for the student. It is simple enough for the average parent to use easily and effectively.

37 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nickels shows the necessity of a Biblical worldview for Math November 17, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book is delightful reading and a great aid to the Christian mathematics teacher. Nickels put mathematics into its historical context and in so doing shows how its development requires a fundamental assumption that the world we live in is rational and harmoniously ordered. Only the biblical God provides such a context.

5.0 out of 5 stars Mathematics is a language.... May 22, 2013

By philip cormany

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

well written and comprehensive... Have to read V E R Y slowly, as there is alot in each sentence. Afterall it clovers from creation until the present.... Shows immense scholarly research. Summaries of the great minds of the ages are on point. Love this book. Again, am trying to get copies of each of my grandchildren for their libraries....

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent December 15, 2012

By dennis

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Very academically interesting Well worth the read and study. I gave a copy to my nephew who is a civil engineer and he felt the same.

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique book November 18, 2012

By Charles A. Clough

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Rare is a book that does what this one does. It is the complied, many-year experience of a secondary school evangelical math teacher. It covers virtually every area of mathematics likely to be encountered by students up through undergraduate level with many useful illustrations. It shows the student why math works in the real world and why it should be exciting instead of leaving the student wondering why he should bother learning the subject. As a math major and scientist I wish someone had exposed me in my student days to this way of looking at math. Highly recommended.

19 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nickels shows the necessity of a Biblical worldview for Math November 17, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book is delightful reading and a great aid to the Christian mathematics teacher. Nickels put mathematics into its historical context and in so doing shows how its development requires a fundamental assumption that the world we live in is rational and harmoniously ordered. Only the biblical God provides such a context.