Miracles

Question 1

What are the two interpretations of miracles?

Answer 1

Realist and anti-realist

Question 2

What is the definition of the realist interpretation of miracles?

Answer 2

miracles are real events brought about by God, or someone empowered by God

Question 3

When a realist says that a miracle has taken place they are…

Answer 3

 Telling us about something that has happened in the external world
 Telling us about the nature of the event
 Making a claim about the (supernatural) cause of the event

Question 4

What is the realist ideas of miracles?

Answer 4

• Miracles could be an extraordinary coincidence of beneficial nature eg, West Side Baptist Church gas explosion sick choir
• Miracles could be an event brought about by the power of God or another spiritual power, working through people eg, Moses parting the Red Sea, or miracles of Jesus
   Important in Catholic tradition
   Invite belief in God and strengthen faith
• Miracles as a violation of natural law
   David Hume
   A miracle is a transgression of a law of nature
   By a particular act of will or by a Deity
   Mackie also agrees with this definition, despite not believing in God

Question 5

What is the problem with describing a miracle as breaking a law of nature?

Answer 5

science disagrees with this definition because they see natural law as descriptive, not prescriptive. They don’t dictate what must happen, they just summarise what has been found to happen. Hick supports this and says that if there appears to be an exception to a law of nature, the law simply expands to include the exception

Question 6

What is the definition of the anti-realist interpretation of miracles?

Answer 6

a miracle may be seen as something that lifts the spirit or transforms a community of people

Question 7

What is the anti-realist interpretation of miracles?

Answer 7

• Argues that we can have no knowledge of a mind-independent world
• This means we can have no knowledge of a transcendent realm, so the idea of a transcendent God intervening is not sensible
• Miracles are mental states or attitudes that are to be understood by psychology and sociology

Question 8

When an anti-realist is talking about miracles they are…

Answer 8

informing us about their state of mind, they are not making a claim about the event itself

Question 9

What is Tillich’s view of anti-realism?

Answer 9

 Sees God as being itself
 So he sees miracles as sign event
 To be considered a miracle it haas to be astonishing, but not defy a law of nature, it must point to the mystery of the being and it has to be a symbol within a religious experience

Question 10

What is Holland’s view of anti-realism?

Answer 10

 Argues that there is nothing miraculous about coincidences, except the way they are interpreted
 Eg, mother and baby train driver fainting. She sees this as a miracle because she believes in God so conforms this to her form of life and interprets this lucky coincidence as divine intervention

Question 11

What is Hume’s definition of a miracle?

Answer 11

A violation of a law of nature

Question 12

For Hume, where can miracles come from?

Answer 12

• A miracle has to be willed by the Deity, as only God would have to power to bring about such an event
• Alternatively, the miracle must be willed by an ‘invisible agent’ in relation to non-religious miracles, eg, Buddhism

Question 13

What is Hume’s inductive argument against miracles?

Answer 13

• Witness testimony has to be more reliable in direct proportion with the improbability of the claim
• The most improbable event would be a violation of the laws of nature
• So, by definition, the event in maximally improbable
• The probability that the witness is mistaken or lying is always greater than the probability that a miracle has occurred

Question 14

What are arguments to support Hume’s argument against miracles?

Answer 14

• It is impossible to look back in history and find a witness who claimed to have experienced a miracle that is a man of good sense, integrity, education and learning
• Humans are naturally credulous. The feeling of surprise and wonder arising from miracles is enough to make people of common sense less than sensible
• A religious observer may know that his account is untrue, but may persevere to tell it because he believes his cause to be holy
• Most accounts of miracles come from ignorant and barbarous nations
• Miracle claims are discounted by contradicting miracle claims

Question 15

What does Wiles believe about miracles?

Answer 15

• Argues that God does not act in the world through miracles
• If God did act in this way, God would be acting immorally, due to the highly selective quality of miracles
• If God intervenes to save some, the problem of evil would be unsolvable because because there would be no reason why God can’t intervene all of the time
• Agrees with an anti-real take on miracles
• Believes that biblical accounts of miracles are misinterpreted, they are myths, presented to express something about God

Question 16

What is the one miracle that Wiles believes in?

Answer 16

The creation