The Dice Of The Gods

Since the dramatic discovery of the mathematical concept of chaos in 1989, the controversy of its contents has settled down. This revised edition of Does God Play Dice? takes a fresh look at its achievements and potential. With a new preface and three completely new chapters, it includes the latest practical applications of chaos theory, such as developing intelligent heart pacemakers. All this provides a fascinating new answer to Einstien's question which provided the title of this book.

What do dice and gods have in common? What is the relationship between dice divination and dice gambling? This interdisciplinary collaboration situates the tenth-century Chinese Buddhist “Divination of Maheśvara” within a deep Chinese backstory of divination with dice and numbers going back to at least the 4th century BCE. Simultaneously, the authors track this specific method of dice divination across the Silk Road and into ancient India through a detailed study of the material culture, poetics, and ritual processes of dice divination in Chinese, Tibetan, and Indian contexts. The result is an extended meditation on the unpredictable movements of gods, dice, divination books, and divination users across the various languages, cultures, and religions of the Silk Road.

Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying that "God does not play dice," claiming an orderly and predictable structure to the universe. Today, advances and presumptions in the field of quantum mechanics pose a serious challenge to such a position. It's a challenge not only for nuclear physicists, but also for Christian theologians who work to explain God's providence for the world. In Does God Roll Dice? noted Jesuit scholar Joseph Bracken claims that something like "directed chance" (Teilhard de Chardin) is God's normal mode of operation in a world always perilously poised between order and chaos. Bracken adopts the relatively new concept of self-organizing or self-correcting systems out of the natural and social sciences to deal with controversial issues in the ongoing religion and science debate. At the same time he deliberately keeps the language and context of the book suitable for the intelligent non-professional reader.

Science and religion go head to head in David Baddiel's debut play: a ferociously funny battle for power, fame and followers.

Two armies prepare for war. Thor, surrounded by crackling lightning, leads the assault of a horde of Viking berserkers. Preparing to receive this charge stands a wall of grim-faced, determined Spartan hoplites, commanded by Ares himself... Of Gods and Mortals is a skirmish wargame that gives players the opportunity to command the greatest heroes, warriors and monsters of legend – and the gods and goddesses that ruled over them. Whether you want to lead the forces of Greek, Egyptian, Celtic or Norse mythology to battle, or build your own pantheon, Of Gods and Mortals presents everything you need. Each player takes control of a god, a handful of legendary characters and a number of mortal troops, forming a warband that must work in harmony to succeed. Although the gods are incredibly powerful, they are only as strong as the faith of the mortals who follow them – if their worshippers are cut down, gods become weaker, and if a deity is vanquished in combat, its followers may flee the field of battle. Success lies in employing a strategy that uses all your troops, from the mightiest to the most humble, as effectively as possible.

Unable to escape his recurring visions of a fantasy realm called Midland, psychologist Richard Brandon has begun doing research into past life regression by experimenting on himself. What he doesn't realize is that his tests are opening gateways between alternate worlds in which he leads quite different lives--and one thing that all the different Richards have in common is their dreams of this magical place.