Skeleton Learning Deck - For Miracles Flashcards
Miracles are acts that break natural laws, suggest a point and philosopher that can be used to expand on this point
St Thomas aquinas and strong and weak miracles
Miracles are acts of an interventionist god, who chooses to act within the world, and has the power to do so, and could show this through miracles. who suggests this?
Aquinas
Acts that defy natural law need an explanation, which philosopher suggests a source for this explanation, to be a rational and complete explanation?
‘God is a complete and rational explanation for events that are otherwise inexplicable’ - Ward (there are accounts of miracles that cannot be explained by science or medicine)
Why do miracles as that which breaks natural law affirm faith and belief in god?
Acts which can’t occur in nature, suggest a powerful interventionist being , the being is God (are best explained as an act of God
Give an alternate definition for miracles, that can be used in reference to miracles having a clear purpose and significance
‘…an unusual and striking event that evokes and mediates a vivid awareness of God’
Hick
Why should miracles have a clear purpose and religious significance, as suggested by Locke?
Locke believes that miracles occur, and have significance religiously, as they testify to the glory of God
Why do miracles with religious significance act as an affirmation of faith? (Two examples)
Signs of God inspire hope in people, (miracles are consistent with the nature of a loving God - Swinburne)
act as spiritual evidence of God, teach good and instil values (biblical miracles)
Why should we believe those who report miracles? According to Swinburne
It is reasonable to adopt principles of testimony and credulity, and to assume that people will tell the truth and that you can believe them - Swinburne
What is the first definition of a miracle that is best used for the ‘breaking natural law’ section of the answer
‘A miracle occurs when the world is not left to itself, when something distinct from the natural order as a whole intrudes into it’
Mackie
What is John Macquarie’s opposition to miracles?
Why is it that one person interprets an event as an act of God and another does not?
Use as a counter to religious significance
What is bultmann’s opposition to biblical miracles?
Bultmann believes that biblical miracles should be seen as metaphors, used to teach lessons, as opposed to being real events
This is called demythologising
What is Gareth moore’s opposition to miracles?
If there is no God, how can miracles occur?
(Gareth Moore and personhood - God is not a person so cannot perform miracles, if God ‘caused’ a miracle it is the same as saying nobody caused one)
What is Peter Vardy’s moral dimension?
If God is all loving and all powerful, why doesn’t he intervene with miracles more often?
(Peter Vardy’s moral dimension - God fails to act where there is great suffering and a real need for miracles ‘a God who intervenes at Lourdes to cure an old man of cancer, but does not act to save starving millions on Ethiopia - such a God needs, at least to face some hard moral questioning’ and God appears to help some people through miracles but not others. This is morally incompatible as he doesn’t treat everyone equally)
What point can be used in conjunction with locke’s ‘testimony to the glory of God’ argument
R. F Holland - miracles can be acts which are beneficial coincidences - which are interpreted religiously - the act of it being religiously significant is in the interpretation by the beholder
