Calculus, By Grace Alone

This semester, God blessed me, and/or tested my faith, with a class devoted to studying Calculus (a branch in mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series). Quite frankly, studying mathematics has never been a problem for me. I took a college Calculus class in high school. I only am taking Calculus again because, honestly, my Christian liberal arts college of choice does not recognize Calculus when aced from a secular university. All semester I saw this denial of transfer credit situation most negatively. However, my thinking changed today when I received my first C+ on any written work I have ever done, in my lifetime thus far. Quite a shocker to me since "I know Calculus," but what I realized is much more valuable to me than a perfected grade point average.

Our professor, a friendly, simplistic, introverted man nearing sixty, assigned the task to determine the source of mathematics. Two questions were posed: 1) Does God create mathematics and humankind merely discovers it? and 2) Does humankind create mathematics? If so, what is God's role (if any)?

At first when posed with these questions, I thought I had my answer: God created all things so mankind discovered Calculus. Well, that's a simplistic answer. This principle holds true to mathematical realism, which argues that humans do not invent mathematics, but merely discover it without attributing the original invention thereof to any deity, power, or source, which leaves a lot of doors open. While I still hold true to the principle of mathematical realism with the understanding of God as the creator, I believe that there is more. Mathematics, like all fields, holds truth to the wisdom and logic of God, so our discovery is imperfect and not comprehensive of the totality of mathematics since we cannot fully grasp the knowledge of God. In other words, as we grow in His likeness, we discover more and more about His infinite logic, but our understanding is limited.

I love mathematics because there is always an objective answer, procedure, and testable theorem, but today I realized that this is only a glimpse of the nature of God's creation of mathematics. Our continual discovery of His nature is never perfected in this life, so to believe that mathematics is discovered by man's own doing is quite false, for it is only by grace that He extends His hand to share just a drop of His understanding. I believe this holds true for all of our learning: it is not our discovery, but His grace extended to us that as we grow in His likeness He imparts bits and bits of His creation, logic, reasoning, art, and more.

And so, my Christian liberal arts college of choice does not recognize Calculus when aced from a secular university when the course is required for my major. Now, I do not despise the registrar for this decision. Instead, I am grateful for I realize that the same course I took last year means so much more to me when I took it this year through His eyes. No matter how much "I know Calculus," He created Calculus and it is infinitely beautiful to see just a glimpse of His logic, reasoning, and power through the study of this branch of mathematics. As I pursue lifelong learning, my prayer is that I would recognize that it is only by His grace that He shares these wonders with me and I praise Him for entrusting me with just a small fraction of His knowledge.