Is The Anti-realist Approach To Miracles Thestrongest Interpretation? Flashcards
Anti-realist definition
Miracles are in the mind and should be understood as psychological/social events.
Suggests that there is no knowledge of a mind-INDEPENDENT world since everything that is observed by our senses is interpreted by the mind. This is our only means of understanding as we an only have knowledge of our minds interpretation of things.
What do ant-realists claim that we cannot have knowledge of?
Cannot have direct knowledge of an external/transcendent world as any unobservable content including statements about miracles is NON-COGNITIVE (means nothing), as we have no knowledge of a transcendent realm apart from the material realm, so he idea of a miraculous intervention in this world by a higher being that operates outside this earthly realm isn’t sensible. Therefore, there can be no commitments to anything unobservabe which hold no cognitive content as e can’t talk meaningfully about ‘unobservable things’
What is Paul Tillich view of miracles
Miracles are ‘sign events’ that cannot be divorced from their religious context.
Tillich defines miracles as ‘an event which is astonishingly,unusual, shaking, without contradicting the rational structure of reality’ that ‘points to the mystery of being’.
1) miracles are not to be understood as literal violation of natural laws.
2) second, it must have signs pointing towards god’s presence
3) it has to be a sign within a religious experience, helping people find meaning
What is John Hick’s view of miracles
A miracles ‘is an event through which we become vividly and immediately conscious of god acting towards us’
Interprets miracles not as violations of nature, but as events that hold profound meaning for those who experience them, pointing to a deeper religious or spiritual reality.
The significance of miracles ‘lies not in their breaking of natural laws, but in the way they point beyond the ordinary course of events to the ultimate reality.’
What do both Tillich and hick believe in a miracle
Powerful symbols that convey a deeper spiritual truth
R.F Holland view of miracles
Uses this story to illustrate that miracles are nothing more than an extraordinary coincidence that is interpreted in a religious way.
E.g. a boy is stuck on a railway track with a train approaching, but the train stopped in its track before hitting the boy. The boy’s mother thanks God for the miracles but in reality, there was nothing supernatural about the train stopping. Rather, it was a beneficial coincidence where the driver fainted and the emergency breaks being applied. Therefore, it would be confusion according to Holland to interpret this event as going against natural order.
Instead, he suggests that miracles depend on the way in which it was interpreted by those concerned suggesting that people can use the colloquial meaning of a ‘miracle’ and interpret it to be miraculous if that individual interprets it to be e.g. a baby’s birth or a beautiful sunny day after weeks of dull weather or if someone has passed their driving test after 2 failures.
