The Divine Challenge: on Matter, Mind, Math and Meaning by John Byl 2004, Banner of Trust

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The Divine Challenge on Matter, Mind, Math and
Meaningby John Byl2004, Banner of Trust
Book Review

• Reviewed by Russell W. Howell

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Recent Popular Books

• A Brief History of Time (Steven Hawking)
• Paradigms Lost Images of Man in the Mirror of
  Science (John Casti)
• Hyperspace (Machio Kaku)
• Visions (Machio Kaku)

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Quotation from Visions (Page 352)

• According to this startling new picture of
  infinitely many parallel universes, in the
  beginning there was Nothing. No space. No time.
  No matter or energy. But there was the quantum
  principle, which states that there must be
  uncertainty, so even Nothing became unstable, and
  time particles of Something began to form.

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(No Transcript)
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The Divine Challenge(Chapter Titles)

• 1. The Challenge Framed
• 2. Worldview Wars
• 3. Naturalism
• 4. Mysteries of Matter
• 5. Chance, Cause and Chaos
• 6. From Matter to Mind
• 7. From Mind to Math
• 8. Mysteries of Mathematics
• 9. Beyond Naturalism
• 10. The Christian Worldview
• 11. God and the Physical World
• 12. Free Will and Responsibility
• 13. Body and Soul
• 14. A Christian View of Mathematics
• 15. The Challenge Settled

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The Divine Challenge(Chapter Titles)

• 1. The Challenge Framed
• 2. Worldview Wars
• 3. Naturalism
• 4. Mysteries of Matter
• 5. Chance, Cause and Chaos
• 6. From Matter to Mind
• 7. From Mind to Math
• 8. Mysteries of Mathematics
• 9. Beyond Naturalism
• 10. The Christian Worldview
• 11. God and the Physical World
• 12. Free Will and Responsibility
• 13. Body and Soul
• 14. A Christian View of Mathematics
• 15. The Challenge Settled

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The Divine Challenge(Chapter Titles)

• 1. The Challenge Framed
• 2. Worldview Wars
• 3. Naturalism
• 4. Mysteries of Matter
• 5. Chance, Cause and Chaos
• 6. From Matter to Mind
• 7. From Mind to Math
• 8. Mysteries of Mathematics
• 9. Beyond Naturalism
• 10. The Christian Worldview
• 11. God and the Physical World
• 12. Free Will and Responsibility
• 13. Body and Soul
• 14. A Christian View of Mathematics
• 15. The Challenge Settled

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The Divine Challenge(Chapter Titles)

• 1. The Challenge Framed
• 2. Worldview Wars
• 3. Naturalism
• 4. Mysteries of Matter
• 5. Chance, Cause and Chaos
• 6. From Matter to Mind
• 7. From Mind to Math
• 8. Mysteries of Mathematics
• 9. Beyond Naturalism
• 10. The Christian Worldview
• 11. God and the Physical World
• 12. Free Will and Responsibility
• 13. Body and Soul
• 14. A Christian View of Mathematics
• 15. The Challenge Settled

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The Divine Challenge(Chapter Titles)

• 1. The Challenge Framed
• 2. Worldview Wars
• 3. Naturalism
• 4. Mysteries of Matter
• 5. Chance, Cause and Chaos
• 6. From Matter to Mind
• 7. From Mind to Math
• 8. Mysteries of Mathematics
• 9. Beyond Naturalism
• 10. The Christian Worldview
• 11. God and the Physical World
• 12. Free Will and Responsibility
• 13. Body and Soul
• 14. A Christian View of Mathematics
• 15. The Challenge Settled

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Suggestions for Improvement

• Allow opposing views more grace

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Repperts Apologetic Strategy(From CS Lewiss
Dangerous Idea, pp. 12 14)

• It seems to me that many discussions of Lewiss
  arguments treat these arguments as finished
  products, to be accepted or rejected as they
  stand There are, of course, valid points to be
  made on the side opposing Lewis who can
  either be offered as a final answer or as a spur
  to think the relevant issues through oneself.

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Suggestions for Improvement

• Allow opposing views more grace
• Add some preliminary remarks as Reppert does
• Avoid saying, Such questions xxx is unable to
  answer.
• Avoid criticisms of silence
• Byl on Hasker (page 243)Hasker gives no
  detailed argumentation as to how the soul-field
  can transcend physical properties. Nor does he
  give any rationale for the soul-field becoming
  self-sustaining at, or before, the death of the
  brain.

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Byl on the Soul (page 243)

• The separation of body and soul occurs at
  death but the soul is ultimately to be
  reunited with a renewed body.

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Suggestions for Improvement

• Firm up some arguments
• Byls claim that faith is a gift cannot be
  sustained by the scriptural reference cited.
• Ephesians 28For by grace you have been saved
  through faith and that not of yourselves, it is
  the gift of God.

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Suggestions for Improvement

• Firm up some arguments
• Byls claim that faith is a gift cannot be
  sustained by the scriptural reference cited.
• Ephesians 28For by grace you have been saved
  through faith and that not of yourselves, it is
  the gift of God.

touto neuter
pistis feminine
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Suggestions for Improvement

• Firm up some arguments
• Byls claim that faith is a gift cannot be
  sustained by the scriptural reference cited.
• Ephesians 28For by grace you have been saved
  through faith and this not of yourselves, it is
  the gift of God.

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Suggestions for Improvement

• Correct some inaccurate statements
• Kant is labeled an empiricist (page 38).
• Euclids theorem on the infinitude of primesByl
  claims it is an indirect proof that starts off
  by assuming the number of primes is not infinite
  (page 145).
• Goldbachs conjectureCast as any even whole
  number can be written as a sum of two primes
  (page 145).

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The Divine Challenge on Matter, Mind, Math and
Meaningby John Byl2004, Banner of Trust
Book Review

• Reviewed by Russell W. Howell