Chance and the Sovereignty of God: A God-Centered Approach to Probability and Random Events by Vern Sheridan Poythress
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Okay, this book probably isn’t for everyone. But it would be well worth your time and perseverance to read this book. The book is divided into four sections:
1. The Sovereignty of God
2. God as the Foundation for Chance
3. Probability
4. Probability and Mathematics
There are also 10 Appendices that cover a range of topics, including gambling and why you can never win and a variety of topics on statistics and probability.
The first two sections lay a great foundation using scripture for the premise of the book, that God is sovereign over ALL and is still active in the world today, in both the good and the bad. The last two sections get more in depth into the mathematics of proving the truths of the first two sections.
Some of it gets a bit heady, especially if you’re not really into math and science, but there are gems in this book that can only be discovered if you’re willing to persevere to the end. I’ll close with this quote from the conclusion.
“It is important for us to see God’s hand in chance and probability, because it deepens our respect for him and our worship. It is also important because chance and probability play a key role in our lives through the influence of science. Virtually all of modern science rests on ideas about chance and probability. And these ideas inescapably reveal God.”
