What is meant by realism?
The stance that miracles are seen as real events brought about by God
Define canonisation.
The declaration by the Catholic Church that someone is a saint.
What is meant by anti-realism?
The stance that miracles are an interpretation of the mind. They may be seen as symbols, as something that lifts the spirit or transforms a community.
What are miracles according to the realist Christian stance?
- Signs of the Kingdom of God
- Objectively true even if they are not fully understood
- Come about through the activity of God or a substance empowered by God
Give an example of a miracle as an extraordinary coincidence of a beneficial nature.
Nebraska chapel explosion
- All 15 members of the choir had separate reasons for being late.
- If they were on time they would have died in the explosion.
- This is seen as God’s work.
Give an example of a miracle as an event brought about by spiritual power, working through people
- When God worked through Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery
- Jesus’ miracles
- 2016 Mother Teresa of Calcutta canonised, she performed at least two miracles
What are the four issues of the view of miracles as a violation of natural law?
1) Encourages the ‘God of gaps’ approach
2) Science disagrees with miracles being a violation of laws. The laws of nature are seen as descriptive (based on experience through observation), and probabilistic (showing what is likely rather than what will definitely happen).
John Hick addresses this issue.
3) If this idea is accepted then is it more likely that the evidence to support the miracle outweighs the mass of evidence supporting the natural law that is said to be breached?
David Hume addresses this issue.
4) If such intervention is an act of God’s will, why is there still so much suffering?
Maurice Wiles addresses this issue.
How can a miracle be a violation of natural law?
- God’s intervention interferes with the normal workings of the laws of nature
- It is an intentional act of God’s will
- It has religious significance
What is a miracle to anti-realists?
- Everything supposedly supernatural is a mental attitude
- Reject the idea of miracles being an activity conducted by a supernatural being
- A miracle transforms people or creates positive feelings
What does Tillich think of miracles?
- They are sign events
- They are a subjective experience
- Depends on the individual experiencing it and their reaction to it
- Others may experience the same thing but not see it as a miracle
- Amazing
- Does not breach natural laws
- Points to the mystery of being
- A symbol within a religious experience
What does Hick think of miracles? (‘Experiencing-as’)
- Natural events
- Religious significance
- If an event seems inexplicable, it is because our scientific knowledge is limited: there will be a natural explanation
What does Holland think of miracles?
- Remarkable coincidences
- Example: child on railway track saved, mother sees it as a miracle even though she knows there is a natural cause (the driver fainting and activating the brakes)
What 3 aspects must miracles have, according to Holland?
- Natural occurrences
- Beneficial in nature
- Have religious significance
Give 2 issues of the anti-realist view of miracles.
- They are subjective as it depends on the interpretation, therefore:
a negative interpretation (i.e. atheist opinion) is as likely to be right as a positive interpretation - It reduces God to the interpretation and understandings of Human minds
Humes key views on miracles
- Basis: empiricism
- We can’t know if it is due to a diety because the diety is ‘hidden’/unobservable
- Accepted the possibility of new/extraordinary events but they are not miracles
- Inductive approach:
effects can be verified, causes cannot
everything is about probability, not a certainty - Based on the consistency of human sense experience, so anything unusual can just be seen as a miracle
- An actual miracle is factual and literally true (realist)
What 3 aspects does Hume ascribe to a miracle?
- violates the laws of nature
- willed by God
- could be performed by an empowered spiritual agent
Hume’s argument against miracles
- rooted in empiricism
- validity of witness evidence is dependant on evidence
- the more unlikely the claim, the more reliable the evidence needs to be
- an event that maximises the laws of nature is maximally improbable
- therefore, the likelihood of the witness lying or being mistaken is always greater than the likelihood of a miracle occurring
Hume’s supporting points of his argument against miracles
- humans are credulous in nature
- miracles are products of primitive superstitions
- these come from ‘ignorant and barbarous peoples’
- different religions all lay claim to miracles
- it’s a miracle people can believe in miracles
The significance of Hume’s views to religious belief
- inductive, can’t definitively prove/disprove miracles
- using Hume’s argument it is possible to construct a theistic argument and prove miracles
- Hume’s four arguments can be challenged
- Hume’s concluding statement that Christianity is founded on faith and not reason makes an important point: the pre-scientific nature of biblical and of medieval writing needs to be taken into account
Wile’s view against miracles
- Anti-realist (symbols)
- The only miracle was creation
- God’s creation was good so there was no need for intervention
- God then created the laws of nature which make miracles rare
Issues with the interventionist understanding of God
- unacceptable
- implies a selective God who helps some and not others
- intensified by the fact so many miracles are trivial (Cana wedding) but there were no miracles in Auschwitz
- this makes God unworthy of worship and the problem of evil unsolvable
- it is impossible to know what happened with Jesus’ miracles
The significance of Wiles’ views to religious belief
- makes the challenges of Hume’s view irrelevant
- holistic, doesn’t limit God to interventionist
- Deist rather than theist (creation was the only miracle)
- Wiles claimed that God was active in the world to sustain it (not through miraculous intervention)
Hume/Wiles comparison
Hume
- atheist
- realist
- Christian view of miracles is irrational since they are maximally improbable
Wiles
- theist
- antirealist
- Avoids interventionist approach
Significance of realist views for religion
- Objectively true
- support and strengthen faith
- powerful acts
- reinforce beliefs
- signs of God
Aquinas viewed miracles as
- a demonstration of God’s love and power
‘beyond the order commonly observed in nature’
- this is the Catholic church view
