The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion
The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion Wainwright, William J. (Editor), Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Print publication date: 2007, Published to Oxford Handbooks Online: September 2009 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-19-533135-6, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195331356.001.0001
12 Miracles
George I. Mavrodes
The idea of the miraculous, and reports of miracles, are prominent elements in some religions. Christianity is one of those religions. In this chapter I discuss this idea primarily in the context of Christianity, though much of what I have to say will also apply to its occurrence in the other theistic religions. From the very beginning, the accounts of the life of Jesus seem to include miraculous elements. In the four Gospels that are now part of the New Testament, Jesus is reported as having done many strange and amazing things. Most of these involve the healing of various diseases and disabilities, many of them apparently of long standing. There are also other incidents, such as walking on the water, calming a storm, and changing water into wine at a wedding feast, that do not involve healings. There is at least one striking case of a resurrection attributed to Jesus, the raising of Lazarus (John, ch. 11). And finally there is the miracle that, for many Christians anyway, overshadows all of these others in importance. That is the resurrection of Jesus himself several days after his death by crucifixion. As we might imagine, the strange things that Jesus did often resulted in awe and amazement among those who saw them. They contributed greatly to Jesus ' reputation, and they drew large crowds to him wherever he went throughout Galilee and Judea. No doubt they had a significant effect on the way his preaching was received, and on people 's reaction to him personally, both before and after his death. The idea of the miraculous, of course, was not invented by Jesus nor by the writers of the Gospels. The Judaic tradition
12 Miracles
George I. Mavrodes
The idea of the miraculous, and reports of miracles, are prominent elements in some religions. Christianity is one of those religions. In this chapter I discuss this idea primarily in the context of Christianity, though much of what I have to say will also apply to its occurrence in the other theistic religions. From the very beginning, the accounts of the life of Jesus seem to include miraculous elements. In the four Gospels that are now part of the New Testament, Jesus is reported as having done many strange and amazing things. Most of these involve the healing of various diseases and disabilities, many of them apparently of long standing. There are also other incidents, such as walking on the water, calming a storm, and changing water into wine at a wedding feast, that do not involve healings. There is at least one striking case of a resurrection attributed to Jesus, the raising of Lazarus (John, ch. 11). And finally there is the miracle that, for many Christians anyway, overshadows all of these others in importance. That is the resurrection of Jesus himself several days after his death by crucifixion. As we might imagine, the strange things that Jesus did often resulted in awe and amazement among those who saw them. They contributed greatly to Jesus ' reputation, and they drew large crowds to him wherever he went throughout Galilee and Judea. No doubt they had a significant effect on the way his preaching was received, and on people 's reaction to him personally, both before and after his death. The idea of the miraculous, of course, was not invented by Jesus nor by the writers of the Gospels. The Judaic tradition
Cited: Habermas, Gary R., and Antony G. N. Flew. 1987. Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? San Francisco: Harper & Row. Holland, R. F. 1965. “The Miraculous.” American Philosophical Quarterly 2: 43–51. Reprinted in Swinburne 1989, 53–69. Hume, David. 1777. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. From the 1777 posthumous edition, ed. L. A. Selby-Biggs. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962. Johnson, David. 1999. Hume, Holism, and Miracles. Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell University Press. Mavrodes, George I. 1995. “Polytheism.” In The Rationality of Belief and the Plurality of Faith, Cornell University Press. ed. Thomas D. Senor. Ithaca N.Y.: Mavrodes, George I. 1998. “David Hume and the Probability of Miracles.” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 43: 167–82. McKinnon, Alastair. 1967. “ ‘Miracle’ and ‘paradox.’ ” American Philosophical Quarterly 4: 308–14. Excerpt in Swinburne 1989, 49–52. Paley, William. 1794. Evidences of Christianity. Excerpt in Swinburne 1989, 41–47. Swinburne, Richard, 1979. The Existence of God. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Swinburne, Richard, ed. 1989. Miracles. New York: Macmillan. Tillich, Paul, 1951. Systematic Theology. Vol. I. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Excerpt in Swinburne 1989, 71–74. For Further Reading Flew, Antony G. N. 1961. Hume 's Philosophy of Belief. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Lewis, Clive Staples. 1960. Miracles. London: Collins Fontana Books. Mackie, J. L. 1982. The Miracle of Theism. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Swinburne, Richard. 1992. Revelation. Oxford: Clarendon Press. end p.322 This page intentionally left blank. PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2009 - 2011. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a handbook in OHO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/oso/public/privacy_policy_oho.html). Subscriber: London School of Economics and Political Science; date: 21 October 2011