Miracles Lesson 6

Question 1

What are Humes summary of his beliefs?

Answer 1

-Knowledge is based on experience (empiricism)

-Based on scientific principles - The more evidence we have for an event, the higher the probability.

-Miracles should be subject to proper scrutiny.

-Hume believes as religion is based on factual claims and doctrines many believe to be literally true. He argues the truth of a religion is the truth of the claim that it makes.

-A miracle is a transgression of a law of nature - this does not include psychological / anti-real experiences

-A miracle has to be willed by a Deity (God) as only a God would have such power to
bring about an event

-The miracle has to be done by ‘the interposition of some invisible agent’ - a miracle performed by a spiritual power other than God

Question 2

Wiles- SUMMARY -vs Hume

Answer 2

-Christian - There is a God who chooses not to intervene

-Takes a more holistic view of God’s activity which sidesteps the criticisms of Hume

-What counts as a miracle is a matter of personal interpretation - it is a symbol, rather than a fact

-Starts from within Christian belief and suggests God should not be understood as
an interventionist

-Does not need to explain how natural laws are violated as believes there are no divine interventions in the world

-An anti-realist approach to miracles - Miracles are symbolic and mythological

Question 3

Hume- SUMMARY- Vs Wiles

Answer 3

-Assumes Christianity is irrational as believers are required to believe in miracles, which are fundamentally irrational

-Focuses on the need for evidence of miracles in natural terms

-A strongly empiricist interpretation with a limited approach to matters of religion

• There is no point calling something a miracle if is at least not unexpected, unexplained and a violation of natural laws
• Atheist - There is no God who can violate natural laws

-Realist account of miracles - They are literal descriptions of false facts