Miracles Flashcards
Essay Structure:
“Critically assess Wiles views on Miracles”
AGREE- against miracles
YES: Wiles (for/against/for)
NO: James (against/for/against)
YES: Hume (for/against/for)
Essay Structure:
“Critically assess Hume’s reasons for rejecting miracles”
(6)
Para 1: Intro/empiricism/law of nature uniform and constant?
(introduce 4 practical reasons for doubting testimony)
Para 2: Trusted/Swinburne/against Hume
Para 3: Drawn to things of wonder/boy on rail road
track/70,00 saw sun move to earth in bible/ against Hume
Para 4: Primitive and barbarous/ uneducated/ anyone can give evidence in court/ against Hume (Freud-illusion)
Para 5: Contrary facts/ Mohammed created Koran by miracle which denies resurrection/ miracles would be arbitrary and partisan/ truth in all religion
Para 6: Empiricism/ red sea/ logical explanations/ law of nature never broken/ Keith Ward- 99x out 100?
Conclusion: More reasonable that miracles do happen as Hume doesn’t disprove them only criticises them.
Essay Structure:
“Asses the view that miracles aren’t consistent with a loving God”
HELP
Hume definition of a miracle:
The transgression against a law of nature BY A PARTICULAR volition of the deity
Aquinas definition of a miracle:
- Against laws of nature
- Against ordinary course of nature
- Incredible within the ordinary course of nature
Arbitrary:
Pointless
Partisan:
Chooses
Problem with arbitrary and partisan??
Means God is not omni-belevolent or omnipotent
Wiles is not an…
Interventionist (God doesn’t intervene)
Wiles main points:
4
1) God doesn’t intervene or he would be arbitrary and partisan
2) If laws are broken they are not laws
3) God sustains the world but doesn’t intervene (deist not interventionist)
4) Miracles should be interpreted symbolically
- Resurrection
- Incarnation (Perfect Christian)
Swinburne’s criticism of Wiles…
Counterargument…
Evidence of miracles in the bible? Credulity and testimony?
Bible not literal? Interpret symbolically?
Criticisms of Wiles…
NO: No empirical evidence for miracles?
YES: Miracles in bible are good? Harsh to say arbitrary and partisan?
NO: Bible can be interpreted symbolically
YES: Reasonable to take a deist view as if God intervened he would be seen as arbitrary and partisan, questioning attributes.
NO: If god all loving he would want to intervene?
YES: Then we would have no free will? Not all loving if everything is determined.
William James Lectures…
“Varieties of religious experience”
William James idea on miracles…
3
1) Validity of experience based on how it effects life not the origin of experience
2) Unbias/objective view
3) Empirical evidence from primary sources
(Could be argued that it isn’t empirical)
William James Characteristics of Miracles…
Passivity- OUT OF CONTROL
Ineffable- indescribable
Noetic- learn from experience
Transcient- short exp but long term effects
William James ‘Fruits’ that make exp valid…
1) Experience wider environment
2) Surrender to a friendly power
3) Freedom and elation
4) Want to change life for the better
William James conclusions…
1) Psychological and spiritual
2) Pragmatic- is life changed? Makes it valid
3) Plurality- Strength in numbers
4) Higher order involved in world (God)
William James Evaluation…
YES: Supports that exp is true for the person
NO: Never refers to God?
YES: Reasonable to assume this higher order is God
YES: Strength in numbers/similar experiences
NO: Millions of people don’t have these experiences?
YES: They may interpret them wrong or not have experienced them yet
Hume intro…
4
1) Empiricist/ eye witness testimony not proof
2) Improbability of exp
- Problem for Christians/resurrection
3) 4 practical reasons for rejecting validity of testimony
4) Miracles by definition don’t happen
- Law of nature uniform and constant
- If this changes it becomes a new law which is uniform and constant
- Law is not ‘broken’
Hume’s 4 practical reasons for rejecting miracles…
1) Trusted?
2) Drawn to wonder/ dazzled
3) Primitive and Barbarous
4) Contrary facts
(Hume) Trusted paragraph…
Evaluation (against/for/against)
- Trust people
- People lie? Its part of life?
NO: Swinburne credulity and testimony/ drug users
YES: even trusted people can lie?
NO: Davies- if we never trusted anything there would be no answers?
(Hume) Dazzled paragraph
Evaluation (against/for/against)
- People have a tendency of looking for wonder/unusual
- Interpret logical events in spiritual way
- E.G Train track- series of cause/effect events interpreted religiously?
NO: Many miracles are beyond explanation? 70,000 in bible saw sun move to earth?
YES: Bible miracles not literal
NO: Interpretation is true to the believer to strip back all miracles in the bible leaves the Christian faith with nothing.
NO: How do we know how to interpret the bible? No reason to say the miracles are myths/symbolic?
(Hume) Primitive/Barbarous paragraph
Evaluation (against/for/against)
- People who exp miracles uneducated
- Logical explanations they just aren’t intelligent enough to interpret them
NO: Anyone can give evidence in court?
YES: Freud would say exp was an illusion to people who were not educated
NO: No evidence to disprove their experiences? Can’t prove they are an illusion
(Hume) Contrary facts paragraph
Evaluation (against/for/against)
- Miracles from each religion are true
- But miracles of different religions contradict each other?
- Not all can be true?
- E.G Mohammed/Koran/ conflicts resurrection
NO: Truth in all religion
YES: Not all can be true?
NO: The miracles are true to the believer? How they interpret it is up to them and can find ways around conflicts
