Miracles

Question 1

Who are the Philosophers associated with miracles?

Answer 1

• Maurice Wiles (anti-realist)
• RF Holland (anti-realist)
• David Hume (realist)
• St Thomas Aquinas (realist)

Question 2

Who is Maurice Wiles?

Answer 2

An Anglican priest and academic

Question 3

Is Maurice Wiles for or against the existence of miracles?

Answer 3

He is against the existence of miracles

Question 4

What does Maurice Wiles reject?

Answer 4

He rejects the idea of any intervention by God into the created universe

Question 5

What does Maurice Wiles NOT reject miracles on the grounds of?

Answer 5

Logic or science: He does not see anything logically wrong with the idea that God could choose (if he wanted) to create miracles

Question 6

What DOES Wiles reject miracles on the grounds of?

Answer 6

He rejected them from a moral perspective

Question 7

In what book does Maurice Wiles illustrate his views on miracles?

Answer 7

God’s Action in the World (1986)

Question 8

Maurice Wiles “God’s Action in the World” quote

Answer 8

“… it would seem strange that no miraculous intervention prevented Auschwitz or Hiroshima (…) miracles acclaimed in traditional Christian faith seem trivial by comparison”

Question 9

What are some examples of miracle healing in the Bible?

Answer 9

• A woman with internal bleeding (Mark 5:25-26)
• A man born blind (John 9:1-7)

Question 10

What did Maurice Wiles conclude about miracles?

Answer 10

Wiles concluded that it is better theologically, to believe in a God that does not do any miracles than one that is not morally good

Question 11

What is an objection to Maurice Wiles’ argument?

Answer 11

We cannot make God conform to human rationality as God acts in ways beyond our human understanding

Question 12

What is an example of miracles that are important to Christians?

Answer 12

• The resurrection of Jesus
• Jesus walking on water
• The feeding of the 5000 people

Question 13

Why is the resurrection of Jesus important for Christian faith?

Answer 13

• The basis of Christian faith
• It validates who Jesus claimed to be
• Validates life after death
• Validates Jesus’ teachings
• Jesus died for our sins

Question 14

What allowed Jesus to walk on water?

Answer 14

His faith in God

Question 15

What is the “feeding of the 5000” also known as?

Answer 15

The “miracle of the five loaves and two fish”

Question 16

What perspective does RF Holland have on miracles?

Answer 16

An anti-realist perspective

Question 17

What does RF Holland call his argument?

Answer 17

Contingency miracles

Question 18

What does Holland argue that miracles are?

Answer 18

Nothing more than an extraordinary coincidence interpreted in a religious way

Question 19

RF Holland quote

Answer 19

“a coincidence can be taken religiously as a sign and called a miracle”

Question 20

What example does Holland give to support his anti-realist argument?

Answer 20

Holland gives the example of a boy stuck on a railway track with a train approaching. The train driver faints causing the train to stop which saves the boys life. The boys mother sees it as a miracle - even though she understands that there is a naturalistic explanation (interpretation).

Question 21

Who is David Hume?

Answer 21

David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher who is best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism - he is an empiricist

Question 22

What is empiricism?

Answer 22

The idea that our beliefs should be based on evidence and experience

Question 23

How does Hume have a realist understanding of miracles?

Answer 23

Hume thought that the realist understanding of miracles accurately captured the theological belief in miracles held by Christians - but he argued that we are never justified in believing that realist miracles happen

Question 24

What does Hume define a miracles as?

Answer 24

“a violation of the laws of nature”

Question 25

What is Hume’s multiple claims argument?

Answer 25

Testimony for miracles “destroys itself” - the fact that different religions all have miracle stories in them means their claims cancel each other out

Question 26

Hume on the low quality of testimony for miracles

Answer 26

There is no miracle witnessed by multiple people who were of good sense, education, integrity and reputation. Instead, miracle stories come “chiefly” from ignorant and barbarous nations and when found in civilised people, they tend to be inherited from ignorant and barbarous ancestors.

Question 27

What is a critique of Hume’s view on the low quality of testimony for miracles?

Answer 27

It appears that Hume’s requirements are a product of a bias. He appears to believe that those prior to the enlightenment are incapable of testifying to the truth (or at least their understanding of the truth was so flawed that it cannot be trusted). Hume’s argument is actually only a dogmatic assertion.

Question 28

What is Hume’s argument from evidence and probability?

Answer 28

When judging what to believe, we should proportion our beliefs to the evidence. So, the evidence we have for the miracle (testimony) must be weighed against the evidence for the law of nature (scientific experiments)

Question 29

What is a critique of Hume’s argument from evidence and probability?

Answer 29

Hume only allows testimonial evidence in favour of miracles. There can be residual circumstantial evidence in favour of an event. Many miracles leave physical and immaterial remnants (healed people, changed lives, etc.). Couldn’t there also be direct experience of a miracle? Hume assumes that miracles can only be testified to and not experienced.

Question 30

Who is St Thomas Aquinas?

Answer 30

One of the most important philosophers and theologians of the Catholic religion

Question 31

How did Aquinas define miracles?

Answer 31

He defined miracles as: “That which has a divine cause, not that whose cause a human person fails to understand” (from Summa Contra Gentiles)

Question 32

What does Aquinas’ definition suggest?

Answer 32

Aquinas suggests all miracles are caused by the divine - the Judeo-Christian God (in his eyes)

Question 33

How many types of miracles did Aquinas identity?

Answer 33

3

Question 34

What is the first type of miracle that Aquinas identified?

Answer 34

Events done by God that nature could never do, e.g create something out of nothing

Question 35

What is the second type of miracle that Aquinas identified?

Answer 35

Events when God does something nature can do but not in the order God does it in. E.g resurrection of Christ. Nature can make someone live, just not after they have died.

Question 36

What is the third type of miracle that Aquinas identified?

Answer 36

An event which nature could do but God breaks the rules or principles of nature. E.g God curing someone of a disease. Nature could cure them of a disease, but it’s part of the principles of nature that curing a disease takes time - God does it instantly. God is breaking the principle of nature despite doing something nature could nonetheless do.

Question 37

What is a general critique of Aquinas’ argument for the existence of God?

Answer 37

An argument that demonstrated the non-existence of God would be eo ipso a demonstration that miracles do not take place

Question 38

What is a more specific critique of Aquinas’ argument for the existence of God?

Answer 38

Baruch Spinoza sets out to argue for the claim that nature cannot be contravened, but that she “preserves a fixed and immutable course,” in consequence of which a miracle is “a sheer absurdity”

1. The will of God is identical with the laws of nature.
2. A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature.
3. Necessarily, God’s will is inviolable.

Therefore,

4. Miracles cannot happen.