Integrating Faith & Math
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pschoenfusscatholicdos.orgSuperintendent of Catholic Schools
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The Catholic faith is integrated into all we do, speak and teach. Teaching mathematics within our Catholic Schools requires us to come to know God in all of His creation. God is Creator, Provider, Powerful Ruler, Redeemer, and Omnipotent. It is through Jesus Christ that God has revealed this saving power.
It is through mathematics that we can come to appreciate more deeply God’s works within creation. It is the mathematics teacher who needs to help students to:“I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father but through Me.” - John 14:6
- See mathematics as essential within God’s creation.
- Recognize faith-centered truth in mathematical theories.
- Appreciate the contributions of Christian mathematicians.
- Experience God’s infinite wisdom.
At ALL times, a teacher must find ways to bring mathematics alive in the faith – whether through comparison, biblical examples or by personal example.Math & Science References in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
- Faith and science: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.” "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are." (CCC 159)
- Basic scientific research, as well as applied research, is a significant expression of man's dominion over creation. Science and technology are precious resources when placed at the service of man and promote his integral development for the benefit of all. By themselves however they cannot disclose the meaning of existence and of human progress. Science and technology are ordered to man, from whom they take their origin and development; hence they find in the person and in his moral values both evidence of their purpose and awareness of their limits. (CCC 2293)
Examples of biblical texts in relation to mathematics
- You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin; I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. (Lev 19:36)
- A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. A just balance and scales belong to the Lord; all the weights of the bag are His concern. (Prov 11:1; 16:11)
- A beka a head (that is, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary), for each one who passed over to those who were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for 603,550 men. (Ex 38:26)
- This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. (Gen 6:15-16)
- The ephah and the bath shall be the same quantity, so that the bath will contain a tenth of a homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; their standard shall be according to the homer. The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your maneh. (Ez 45:11-12)
- Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? (Luke 15:8)
- Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? (Job 38:4-5)
- Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales? (Is 40:12)
- And behold, there was a wall on the outside of the temple all around, and in the man’s hand was a measuring rod of six cubits, each of which was a cubit and a handbreadth. So he measured the thickness of the wall, one rod; and the height, one rod. (Ez 40:5)
- And these are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth): the base shall be a cubit and the width a cubit, and its border on its edge round about one span; and this shall be the height of the base of the altar. Ez 43:13)
- And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. (Rev 21:17)
- There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—(Ecc 3:1)
- He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.” (Dan 8:14)
- And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “ So shall your descendants be.” (Gen 15:5)
- Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE. (Heb 11:12)
- Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, (Rev 5:11)
- “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “ who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev 1:8)
The Symbolism of Numbers in the Bible
In many ancient cultures, including Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, numbers were not used as precisely as we might presuppose today. Thus, numbers in the Old Testament and New Testament books are often meant symbolically, not literally. For example:
When the Israelites wanted to say "a long time," they would say "40 days" or "40 years." Not concerned with meticulous precision as much as we are today, saying "forty" did not mean that they counted carefully, and the result was exactly between 39 and 41, no more and no less. Similarly, to say "a short time," the Scriptures often say "on the third day" or "in three days," but without meaning exactly 72 hours!
The symbolism of numbers used in biblical texts:
1 - singularity; God in monotheism (Deut 6:4); unity for humans (John 10:16; Eph 4:4)
2 - duality: contrary (light/dark, good/evil) or complimentary (material/spiritual; human/divine)
3 - God's actions: 3 "visitors" (Gen 18:2); "third day" (Exod 19:11); later "Trinity" (Matt 28:19) 3½ half of seven; thus things in process, still incomplete
4 - earth, directions, winds, empires; later the four Gospels or four Evangelists
6 - human work/effort (Luke 13:14); incompleteness, imperfection, lack (not yet 7)
7 - days in a week, Sabbath rest (Gen 2:1-3); thus natural & divine completeness/perfection
8 - Jewish day of Circumcision (Exod 22:30); Christian day of Resurrection (John 20:26)
10 - completion; basis of many number systems (# digits on fingers/toes!)
11 - incompletion; only eleven apostles remain after Judas' death
12 - months per year, tribes of Israel, apostles of Jesus; human completion
13 - [used in later superstition; based on Judas, but not used in Bible itself]
14 - value of the name "David" in Hebrew gematria (a type of numerology popular in ancient Judaism) obtained by summing the value of its three consonants (dalet=4, vav=6; thus D+V+D = 4+6+4)
24 - Christian number for completion/restoration: OT tribes + NT apostles
30 - days in month in ancient lunar calendars
40 - very long time: years of Israel's Exodus, days of Jesus’ temptation
42 - number of months in 3½ years (half of seven years; see also 1260 days) 100 = 10x10
144 - = 12x12, thus perfect completion
360 - number of days in a lunar year
365 - number of days in a solar year (cf. Gen 5:23)
666 - number of the beast (Rev 13:18 only; variant reading is 616) 1000 = 10x10x10
1260 - number of days in 3½ years (thus incompletion) 10,000 “myriad”; highest ancient number with its own name
Larger numbers in the Bible are often multiples of these basic numbers, thus combining their significance: 7000 = 7 x 1000; 12,000 = 12 x 1000; 20,000 = 2 x 10,000; 144,000 = 12 x 12,000
"200 million" in Rev 9:16 is an English equivalent for 20,000 x 10,000; but there is no word in Hebrew or Greek for "million" or "billion"
(Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D. - http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Numbers.htm)