About
Welcome to my blog, Forms and Formation!
Hi, I’m Lawrence from Melbourne, Australia. I work as a data analyst in the Victorian public service, currently at the Department of Education. My academic background is in mathematics: in 2022, I completed first‑class honours in pure mathematics at Monash University, following an undergraduate double degree in pure maths and econometrics.
During my studies, I worked as a teaching associate at Monash University, teaching classes in algebra, calculus, and discrete mathematics. My honours research was in group theory, on Minimum bases for permutation groups, supervised by A/Prof Heiko Dietrich and Dr Santiago Barrera Acevedo.
Although my day‑to‑day work is no longer directly academic, I’m still deeply shaped by mathematical thinking – especially ideas of structure, equivalence, and transformation. That way of thinking continues to shape this blog. It began as Epic Maths Time, a place to share mathematical curiosities, but is becoming a space for reflecting on how structure and formation shows up across different domains.
Think of this blog as a playground – a place for me to think out loud. Some things here are finished, some aren’t. If something’s useful or interesting, I’d love for you to stick around. This is how the blog is organised in my mind:
Transformed by Grace (TfG)
Lawrence’s theological work.
This is the centre of the blog: theological work that builds and tests frameworks for understanding and living the Christian faith. It draws on structure, pattern and disciplined analysis – to bring doctrine, practice and formation into coherence.
Harmonic Theology (HT)
Structured resonance.
Harmonic theology is my intentional bridge between music, mathematics and theology, drawing on the depth and power of all 3 fields. It brings together Scriptural and musical analysis, using mathematical tools from algebra, geometry, analysis and statistics, all grounded in theology. Those tools help me attend to how doctrines relate, how patterns recur, and how deeper structures shape worship and formation.
Theological Formation (TF)
Faithful practice.
This is for my frameworks and reflections on forming habits of thought and action – Scripture, reflective AI use, faithful presence in secular systems – where faith is lived out like in my Bible anchor verse, Romans 1:16:
‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes:
first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.’
Epic Maths Time (EMT)
Free constructions.
My sandbox for abstract mathematical thinking – playful, structural, unconstrained by application or interpretation. This is where ideas are generated, reframed and stress-tested. Some other non-theological explorations may also appear here, especially where they intersect with mathematics.
Cool Stuff (CS)
Concrete objects.
Focused explorations of specific, established mathematical ideas and phenomena – across algebra, statistics and other fields of maths – the things that I find interesting in themselves.
New Perspectives (NP)
Re‑presentations.
Meta‑mathematical pieces that use unexpected areas of mathematics to explain familiar results. I use this to highlight fields close to my heart and to change the lens to see familiar structures differently – at times leaning into my flavour of absurdity: using a sword to cut food.
Just for Fun (JfF)
Ni‑driven experiments.
My intuition‑led explorations, speculative constructions and pattern‑first ideas – where justification may come later, or not at all.
Other things
Some of what I make lives outside this blog. This YouTube playlist gathers some of it – original music, church performances, talks, creative projects, glimpses of life shared openly – offered as part of the same work of formation.
Some other original creations, particularly around transport, lives on Reddit and Sporcle, and may spill into this blog from time to time.
I’m always grateful for the opportunity I had to spend my university life immersed in a subject I love, for the ways that season continues to shape me, and how it seeded something beautiful. One verse that stayed with me during that season was Ecclesiastes 3:1 –
‘There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens’
While it spoke most directly to that moment in honours in 2022, I still find its wisdom shaping how I think about seasons, formation and the work this blog is growing into – formed by structure, transformed by grace.
And yes – if you understand the meaning behind the blog icon (think series), good job 🙂