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Abstract
Religion has existed for as long as humans have, and mathematics for nearly as long. The two have been inexplicably linked together by virtue of both being ways to find a meaning and purpose to human existence. I specifically wanted to understand the relationship between Christianity and mathematics, their coexistence and how, why and if they fed from each other. As such, I researched six mathematicians, three Catholic: Galileo Galilei, Rene Descartes, and Blaise Pascal, as well as three Protestant: John Dee, Johannes Kepler, and Leonhard Euler. I read histories regarding their religion, their history, and their personal interactions with their respective churches to understand if the relationship between mathematics and religion was the same during their time as it is now. There are similarities between the past and the present in that humans do not change their nature. From my case studies, it appeared that the Catholic Church was not as forgiving of mathematicians who wanted to understand more than what the Bible explained. In contrast, the Protestant Church welcomed the ideas of mathematicians as a blessing from God. In a way, that relationship with mathematics and science is still upheld by religion today; a push and pull between believing the Bible and believing science and mathematics.