Modes and Modalities of Mathematical Authority: Disseminating the “New Infinite,” 1870–1920

This chapter surveys and examines the ways by which new conceptions of the infinite that resulted from its mathematization in the late nineteenth century were discussed in (Western) religious contexts. It pays particular attention to placing a rich array of commentators and commentaries addressing nonspecialist audiences into a relational context, thereby providing an opportunity to consider modes, modalities, and transformations regarding both authority and intention when communicating the significance of mathematical knowledge. The more expansive perspective de-emphasizes the history of particular mathematical innovations as a way of focusing instead on the history associated with knowledge production and dissemination, as well as ongoing entrenchments in professionalization. While already a contested notion by the turn of the twentieth century, mathematizing the infinite precipitated a reassessment of the scope and responsibilities of acceptable intellectual and professional engagements. The more precise and positive conceptualization of the infinite adopted by mathematicians as part of their efforts toward public dissemination corresponded with differently, and often more sharply, prescribed domains of discourse regarding its theological significance.