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THE THEOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC: NUMBER SYMBOLISM IN PLATONISM AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY by Joel Kalvesmaki Center for Hellenic Studies, 2013,231 pp. ISBN: 978-0-674-07330-2
The Theology of Arithmetic is a detailed and scholarly study of a small comer in the history of mathematics that is often mentioned but rarely elaborated upon in the mathematical literature: the presence and effects of Platonist and Pythagorean number symbolism in early Christianity. Although Kalvesmaki's audience doesn't seem to be mathematicians or historians of mathematics, there is much here of value to be reaped from his discussion.
On the first page of his introduction, Kalvesmaki sets the stage for his analyses: "In the second century, a variety of new Christian movements - among the most prominent one called the Valentinians - developed systems of number symbolism that went well beyond what is found in Scripture and early Jewish and Christian lore, both...