Rooted and Grounded in Love and Math
October 8, 2023 Leave a comment
“For if at any time there can be an excuse for the rashness of a Woman who ventures to aspire to the subtleties of a science, which knows no bounds, not even those of infinity itself, it certainly should be at this glorious period, in which a Woman reigns…”—Marian Gaetana Agnesi’s dedication of her book “Analytical Institutions” to Maria Theresa, empress of the Austrian empire, in 1748.
I’m curious. Have you ever come across this woman in all of your school work?
When you studied the “Enlightenment” did you ever hear about this renowned symbol of female intellectual achievement who is considered to be the first woman in the Western world to have achieved a reputation in mathematics?
Have you heard of the first woman to write a mathematics handbook – Analytical Institutions for the Use of Italian Youth – and also the second woman awarded a professorship in mathematics and physics at the University of Bologna after publishing her calculus textbook?
Have you heard of the woman who entertained Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI?
When you studied mathematics was her name mentioned? Did you study the mathematical curve called “The Witch of Agnesi?
Have you heard of this STEM-for-women trailblazer?
Did you ever hear of the pious prodigy known as the “angel of consolation”? Did you ever hear about this devout self-sacrificing Catholic in a sermon or a Sunday School lesson?
Have you heard of this passionate advocate for the education of women and the poor, a woman who believed that the natural sciences and math should play an important role in an educational curriculum and that scientific and mathematical studies be viewed in the larger context of God’s plan for creation?
The mathematician and philosopher Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born May 16, 1718 in Milan.
Maria was the eldest child of a wealthy silk merchant and professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna. Her family was recognized as one of the wealthiest in Milan. To encourage his daughter’s interest in scientific matters, her father provided Maria with distinguished professors as her tutors.
An extremely gifted child, at five years of age Maria could speak Italian and French. By her eleventh birthday she had learned Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, German, and Latin. She wasn’t the vaunted and routine “Proverbs 31” woman, a role envisioned by many in the church.
When Agnesi was 9, she recited from memory a Latin oration, likely composed by one of her tutors. The oration decried the widespread prejudice against educating women in the arts and sciences, which had been grounded in the view that a life of managing a household would require no such learning. Agnesi presented a clear and convincing argument that women should be free to pursue any kind of knowledge available to men.
Maria Agnesi, the greatest female mathematician you’ve never heard of (theconversation.com)
Maria’s father Pietro, to elevate his family’s social status, hosted salon gatherings in his home. There the “Seven-Tongued Orator” could display her knowledge of mathematics, philosophy, history, and music in multiple languages. And, her musical prodigy sister Maria Teresa performed for guests, often playing her own compositions. Pietro used his talented daughters to make his house an important stop in Milanese social circles.
Palazzo Agnesi was a cultural salon where Maria could present theses on a variety of subjects and then defend them in academic disputations with leading scholars. Some said “She spoke like an angel.”
The disputations were conducted in Latin, but during the subsequent discussions a foreigner would usually address Maria in his native tongue and would be answered in that language. The topics on which she presented theses covered a wide range—logic, ontology, mechanics, hydromechanics, elasticity, celestial mechanics and universal gravitation, chemistry, botany, zoology, and mineralogy, among others. Some 190 of the theses she defended appear in the Propositiones philosophicae (1738), her second published work.
Maria Gaetana Agnesi | Encyclopedia.com
Massimo Mazzotti, in his book The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God, calls the salon gatherings a strategy “of fashioning and controlling this phenomenon of the learned woman.”
The shy and introverted Maria, who wanted to be left alone to read books, performed for astonished audiences. But she did so at the expense of her own physical and emotional health, as she had more than performances to care about.
Maria’s mother died in childbirth in 1732. When her father’s second wife died Maria’s public performances were scaled back. At the age of twenty she assumed the management of the household and the education of her many younger siblings (she was the eldest of 21 children, including her half-siblings; her father remarried three times). She also spent time bolstering her own education. Women at that time could not attend school outside the home.
Seven years later Maria told her father that she didn’t want to be a public academic. She wanted to become a nun. Studying theology, she had become strong in her faith and wanted to live it out in a life of service. She desired to live in a semi-convent-like state at home avoiding all secular socializing and devoting herself entirely to the study of mathematics. She wanted to attend church whenever she chose and dress simply.
Her father, not willing to let his child prodigy become a nun, agreed to let Maria live in such a manner studying theology if she were to also continue her research into mathematics. She would be permitted to do all the charity work she wanted. This would be in addition to her performances and lessons, and her responsibility to homeschool her siblings – she wrote curriculum for them.
1740. Maria studies differential and integral calculus with Olivetan monk Ramiro Rampinelli.
In 1748 Maria she publishes a mathematical treatise, Analytical Institutions for the Use of Italian Youth. It is so impressive – regarded by those in the field as the best introduction extant to the works of Euler – that it earns her a professorship in mathematics and physics at the University of Bologna; she becomes only the second woman ever to be awarded such a position.
At the height of her fame, which includes entertaining Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, Maria becomes physically depleted and severely ill. The relentless schedule of study and public appearances has worn her out.
In 1751, she became ill again and was told not to study by her doctors. After the death of her father in 1752 she carried out a long-cherished purpose by giving herself to the study of theology, and especially of the Fathers and devoted herself to the poor, homeless, and sick, giving away the gifts she had received and begging for money to continue her work with the poor. In 1783, she founded and became the director of the Opera Pia Trivulzio, a home for Milan’s elderly, where she lived as the nuns of the institution did. On 9 January 1799, Maria Agnesi died poor and was buried in a mass grave for the poor with fifteen other bodies.
Maria Gaetana Agnesi – Wikipedia
There is so much that could be said about this amazing woman, a woman of intellect and passion, of science and faith. So, I recommend reading Massimo Mazzotti’s biography: The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God. This would be a good homeschooling text.
Her attitude, says [Massimo] Mazzotti, was that “intellect was necessary for being a good Christian. If you work on strengthening your intellect, you’re doing a good thing for your spiritual life as well.” In later life, her religious writing turned mystical, but when she was most active in mathematics, her approach to religion was more intellectual and rational. Even as her religious practice became more mystical, however, she still saw intellect and passion as two complementary parts of religious life. “The human mind contemplates [the virtues of Christ] with marvel,” she wrote in an unpublished mystical essay, “the heart imitates them with love.
The 18th-Century Lady Mathematician Who Loved Calculus and God | Science| Smithsonian Magazine
Maria never entered a convent. She never married or had children. With Christ at home in her heart by faith and Maria at home with the “sublime sciences” she was rooted and grounded in both love and math. The desire and direction of her life was in learning and serving. Her brilliant mathematical work seized the world’s attention. And then she gave it all up for a half-century of self-sacrifice.
In her view, human beings are capable of both knowing and loving, and while it is important for the mind to marvel at many truths, it’s ultimately even more important for the heart to be moved by love.
“Man always acts to achieve goals; the goal of the Christian is the glory of God,” she wrote. “I hope my studies have brought glory to God, as there were useful to others, and derived from obedience, because that was my father’s will. Now I have found better ways and means to serve God, and to be useful to others.”
Maria Agnesi, the greatest female mathematician you’ve never heard of (theconversation.com)
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A brief intro to Maria Agnesi and the curve called “Witch of Agnesi”:
And a composition of her sister, harpsichordist Maria Teresa Agnesi (1720-1795) – Concerto per il cembalo:
Maria Teresa Agnesi (1720-1795) – Concerto per il cembalo – YouTube
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Article References and further reading on Agnesi:
Maria Agnesi, the Greatest Female Mathematician You’ve Never Heard of – Scientific American
Maria Agnesi, the greatest female mathematician you’ve never heard of (theconversation.com)
Agnesi, Maria Gaetana (1718–1799) | Encyclopedia.com
Maria Gaetana Agnesi | Mathematician, Philosopher, Educator | Britannica
Maria Agnesi: Mathematician and Philosopher (thoughtco.com)
The 18th-Century Lady Mathematician Who Loved Calculus and God | Science| Smithsonian Magazine
The Secret Life Of Maria Gaetana Agnesi | NOVA | PBS
The Witch of Agnesi | The Engines of Our Ingenuity (uh.edu)
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Women of Faith in Science
“Katey Walter Anthony has done much of her research deep in the arctic, studying the methane bubbles that are released in thawed permafrost lakes. What she has learned helps us to better understand the complexity of earth’s climate and how it might change in the future. But alongside the exciting story of her scientific journey is a story about how she has come to understand God’s place in it all.”
Katey Walter Anthony | Science, Faith & Thermokarst Lakes
Note: “Climate change” messaging is being framed to fit just about everything, including fear. King Charles III even launched a catastrophe countdown clock. “Man-made Climate change” is being attached to all kinds of phenomena.
As you will hear, “Climate change” is brought up by those involved in earth science during the podcast interviews offered by BioLogos, a faith and science foundation.
Science, any science, is on a journey. No one has all the information and facts.
Climate science is NOT settled science. And, anthropogenic global warming is a theory, no matter how many times “consensus” is mentioned to “prove” it to be otherwise. Remember, “consensus” doesn’t mean something is true. It means that some people agree, for whatever reason, on some idea.
In this podcast, it appears that Katey received funding and grants related to finding earth issues that generate “climate change”. Questions to keep in mind: when a person receives funding related to a specific issue, what do you think they will find and write about? And, to receive more funding to continue one’s scientific pursuits, what do you think they will find and write about?
At the end of the interview, Katey offers wisdom: we should use a circumspect approach to dealing and living with the earth and of learning to adapt in our approach to our own lives.
Become informed. Don’t rely on media for knowledge of anything. There are scientific counter-narratives to the inescapable “Climate Change” narrative as there were for the COVID narrative:
Podcasts>>>>Environment and Climate News Podcast on Apple Podcasts
Climate Etc. (judithcurry.com)
Watts Up With That? • The world’s most viewed site on global warming and climate change
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Cindy Wity 
Binary Beckons for More from You
October 15, 2023 Leave a comment
Two options guided my early incorrigible years: “Either you do what I say or your father will deal with you when he comes home” “Either you clean you room or lose your allowance” “Either you are home by 9 or you will be grounded.” The church, too, presented two stark choices: “Either you get saved and go to heaven or you go to hell”; “Either walk the straight and narrow or walk the wide way of the world.”
The either/or binaries of my early childhood were meant to prepare me for life. I learned that if I wandered off into “or” territory there was sure to be consequences. My parents guided my behavior from their own experience of walking within binary guard rails.
They had learned that from the simplest safety issues to the most important issues in life, honest straightforward either/or choices are required. My late mother shared one such either/or choice.
My father, having grown up in the Dutch Reformed church where smoking was the norm for men, was given a choice by my mother when she was dating my father: “Either you stop smoking or that’s it.” Thankfully, my father didn’t “or” the situation. I wouldn’t be here if he did.
With knowledge of their own either/or choices and exposing me to the either/or choices of the book of Proverbs, my parents either/or’d my youth. Binary guard rails were set in place for my time in Jr. High and High school.
When I attended Moody Bible Institute after high school (early 70s), the binary thinking infused in me by the church came into question.
A first-year class called “Personal Evangelism” was taught by Mr. Winslett. During that semester Mr. W described different religions. As he did so he labeled the churches of the Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness and others as cults. When he came to the Catholic church, he said it was a cult because Catholics worshipped Mary, had a pope, and put tradition ahead of scripture. I remember hearing this and thinking that we’re better than all of them. But something felt off.
(Per Article I of The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy found on the Moody Bible Institute website, the Bible, not tradition, is the authoritative Word of God.)
The highly partisan Mr. W, a representative of MBI, had sallied Catholicism: MBI represented real Christianity and Catholicism, a “cult”, did not; either you are with us in Bible first thinking or you are not one of us. (Mr. W was the only teacher I met a MBI like this. But there are many who preach and teach the same binary “us and them” thing.)
I was raised Protestant. Differences of Protestantism and Catholicism were minimally noted in my church. But I had read about Luther, the Ninety-five Theses, and the Reformation. I knew about the abuses and corruption of the Catholic church. Those include Johann Tetzel selling indulgences.
But faith in God and his salvation coupled to Mary, the pope and tradition were not Christianity deal breakers for me. For without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
Instead of imposing exclusionary theology, abide by the words of the old hymn: “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform . . . God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.”
Years later I came across the same “us and them” attack. I brought my daughter to an Awana program going on at a Baptist church. On the night that she and I were to race the Pinewood Derby Car we had crafted together, the speaker bad-mouthed the Catholic church during a promotion for the Baptist church we were standing in.
He said something to the effect that their Baptist church wasn’t like the unsound Catholic church. I was shocked. There were members of that Baptist church and other churches in attendance. What did they walk away with that night?
I’ve seen this attitude surface so many times by haughty either/or Protestants. I’ve also seen it in either/or Catholics. Both groups interpret Church teaching in a narrow way, then argue that whoever disagrees with their tightly wound interpretation must—by the fact of that disagreement—be in opposition to Church teaching. The Either-Or fallacy used by both Protestants and Catholics: “I can’t be in error therefore YOU must be!”
Another anecdote of the “us and them” attitude: One night I was sitting in a donors meeting listening to a presentation. The Episcopal church I attended wanted to annex and refurbish the house next store and make it ministry usable. At front and center of the room that night was a picture board showing the proposed design. The crossway from the existing church building to the house showed a cross in relief in the arc above the passageway. One woman remarked that we should get rid of the cross because “we’re not Baptists.”
Look. Our family and church backgrounds teach us to think in opposites – basically in terms of good and bad. We are presented with two options and they appear as your only options and mutually exclusive. We then bring unmediated polar extremes into adulthood.
Either/or thinking integrated into our lives and then reinforced by our respective cultures can produce a worldview in stringent binary terms: as a one or zero. Black-and-white thinking is used to reduce the world to something we can handle which then provides a sense of certainty and security. But “a one or zero” thinking can be adversarial, dividing people into “us vs. them.” A few examples:
“I am right and you are wrong.” (How does that work out in marriage? With our neighbors?)
“If you’re not with me, you’re against me. I have friends and enemies but not acquaintances.”
“Either I win or I lose in this situation.”
It can also produce all-or-nothing false dilemma fallacies which are really manipulative setups:
“If you care about your neighbor, you will get vaccinated” and “Putting others first will get us through he pandemic” “Getting vaccinated is loving your neighbor as yourself.”
“Social solidarity is the most precious tenet of our democracy.”
“You’re either pro-choice or anti-woman. There’s no other moral stance.”
“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
“Either you let your child change their gender or they will commit suicide.”
“You are either racist (by not agreeing with me) or you are anti-racist (by agreeing with me).”
“If you are against LGBTQ books in the library you are a book banner.”
“If you question what is being taught in public schools, you are a domestic terrorist.”
“If you question the 2020 election you are a MAGA extremist.”
“If you don’t accept the climate science consensus (or COVID science consensus), then you are a science denier.”
Either/or “us and them” thinking tends toward exclusion and not embrace. It tends toward absolutism, authoritarianism, fundamentalism and judgement. We see it in Hamas’ attack on Israel. We see it in climate activism. We see it in cancel culture. We see it in the murderous history of totalitarian regimes. We see it in church teaching and we sing it: “Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war.”
We see it in the teachings and practice of Christians, Muslims, and the Progressive Left which would have us believe that they are the opposite of conservative either/or thinking while mandating their own anything-goes version of it. Theology, ideology and government policies are marketed with the dichotomy of good and bad.
It seems that many have retained their childhood’s unyielding binary worldview. It is used as a defense mechanism, as a means of protection from the “hazards and vicissitudes of life”. (From the statement made by FDR when he signed the Social Security Act.)
I’ve seen the binary thinking defense mechanism employed by Christians. Though it comes across as holding fast to the faith and Sola Scriptura, faith vs. science messaging reduces the supposed conflict to “us vs. them” binary thinking which allows no quarter for God’s revelation in nature as revealed by science. Yet, God has revealed himself in both scripture and nature. Science is a tool for understanding God’s revelation of Himself in the physical world.
When I told my eighty-nine-year-old Godly mother that, based on research, I believed the universe to be billions of years old and that God used evolution, she didn’t reply “That’s interesting. Tell me more.” She said “That’s heresy!” Her defense mechanism alarm bell went off. She was reacting from what she had been taught and how she had been taught to think about what she was taught.
Becoming emotionally invested in extremes may lead to the exclusion of people, as “Heresy!” suggests. Such binary thinking can produce unrealistic portrayals of others and it can become used, as mentioned above, as a weaponized defense against others.
Certainly, there are people who watch news commentators because they relish the mocking and “owning” of the opposition. Certainly, there are people who go to church for the same reasons. But there is nothing mature about participation in bad mouthing others. I see nothing of this in Jesus.
I come across Jesus-whipping-the-money-changers-in-the-temple memes on social media. These are extrapolated as Jesus is “destroying” his enemies, so we can do the same. Horrible nonsense.
Relying solely on binary thinking is intellectual and spiritual laziness. An open both/and questioning mind is not a slippery slope and it’s not anything-goes Progressivism. Seek truth and not the comfort of tribal consensus.
Consider that no one has all the information – not your pastor nor MBI nor Anthony Fauci nor climate scientists. It’s OK. Consider that not everything is black and white. Knowing the difference and knowing when to introduce AND with “perhaps” is wisdom.
The Creator of the universe is not a small-minded Person. He holds a universe of disparate thought, theories, and faith in his hands. He is not threatened by any of it. A follower of the Creator of the universe lets God hold the messiness and uncertainty of life in His hands and does not feel threatened.
Finally, a reductionist’s worldview makes it incredibly difficult to hold space for the uncertainty and messiness of others. But there is a better way, a much better way: love and maturity.
Love is great-hearted; love is kind,
Knows no jealousy, makes no fuss,
Is not puffed up, no shameless way,
Doesn’t force its rightful claim,
Doesn’t rage or bear a grudge,
Doesn’t cheer at other’s harm,
Rejoices, rather, in truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things;
Love hopes all things, endures all things.
As a child I spoke, and thought, and reasoned like a child; When I grew up, I threw off childish ways.
I Cor. 13:4-7, 11
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(Note: I’ve summed up a lot so as to make this post accessible. I was involved in the Jesus People movement during high school. Along with those in the movement I questioned a lot of the binary thinking of the church. I’ll share that story in another post.)
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Science and Faith
In this episode, we focus on the apparent tension between science and faith.
“Many people believe that science and religious faith are bitter enemies with conflicting views of the universe. One the one hand there is the scientific account of the origins of life and then there is the story of universal origins told by the bible. But is this tension real, or is it based on a deep misunderstanding of what the Bible is and how it communicates?
. . .
“Consider this a crash course in reading the Bible as an ancient cross-cultural experience.”
Science & Faith (bibleproject.com)
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Kate Boyd | Science and the Messy Middle
Kate Boyd has been learning to live out her faith in the messy middle in a culture that rewards picking a side. While her journey didn’t begin with a conflict between science and religion, her story explores the complexities of understanding the Bible in today’s context and anyone who has struggled with issues of science and faith will resonate with this conversation.
149. Kate Boyd | Science and the Messy Middle | Language of God (biologos.org)
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I’ve been told that I’m either naive or stupid.
I’m not sure which side I’m moron.
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Filed under Christianity, Psychology, Science, social commentary, totalitarianism Tagged with absolutism, Authoritarianism, binary thinking, Catholicism, Christianity, either/or, fundamentalism, Protestantism, psychology, Science, totalitarianism