Miracle

Miracle is a term used by adherents of many religions for what they say is an intervention by God in the universe. One must keep in mind that in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and in other faiths people have substantially different definitions of the word "miracle". Even within a specific religion there is often more than one useage of the term.

Miracles as seen by the Bible

The description of most miracles in the Tanach (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament) and in the Christian New Testament are more or less the same as the modern-day, popular definition of the word "miracle": In order to achieve some goal, or to teach some lesson, God apparently suspends the laws of nature to produce a supernatural occurence. This would need to be by either violating the laws of physics, skewing the statistical probability of an event happening, or possibly both.

There are far fewer outright miracles in the Bible than is commonly believed. For instance, consider the splitting of the sea of reeds (commonly mistranslated as the Red Sea). This occurred when Moses and the children of Israel fled from bondage in Egypt, to begin their exodus to the promised land. Contrary to popular belief, the Torah (five books of Moses) never claims that the sea split in an immediate and drastic fashion. Rather, God caused a strong wind to slowly drive the sea to land overnight. Most miracles are not labeled as such by the actual text of the Bible; rather the text will simply describe what happened. However, many narratives will attribute the cause of these events to God.

Today many Orthodox Jews, most Christians, and most Muslims adhere to this view of miracles. This view is generally rejected by non-Orthodox Jews, liberal Christians and Unitarian-Universalists.

Miracles as events pre-planned by God

In classical rabbinic Judaism, most rabbis of the Talmud held that the laws of nature were inviolable. The idea of miracles that contravened the laws of nature were hard to accept; however, at the same time they affirmed the truth of the accounts in the Tanakh. Therefore some explained that miracles were in fact natural events that had been set up by God at the beginning of time. When the walls of Jericho fell, it was not because God directly brought them down. Rather, God planned that there would be an earthquake at that place and time, so that the city would fall to the Israelites. Instances where rabbinic writings say that God made miracles a part of creation include Genesis Rabbah 5:45; Exodus Rabbah 21:6; Ethics of the Fathers/Pirkei Avot 5:6.

Aristotelian views of miracles

Aristotle rejected the idea that God could or would intervene in the order of the natural world; his view of miracles was incompatible with Biblical view.

Neo-Aristotelian views of miracles

In this section we will describe the view of miracles in neo-Aristotelian philosophy. Jewish neo-Aristotelian philosophers, who are still influential today, include Maimonides, Samuel Ibn Tiboon, and Gersonides. Directly or indirectly, their views are still prevalent in much of the religious Jewish community. Christian and Muslim neo-Aristotelian philosophers should also be discussed in this section; also please note if their works are still studied and accepted today, and if so, by whom.

Non-literal reinterpretations of miracles

Held by both classical and modern thinkers.

In Numbers 22 is the story of Balaam and the talking donkey. Many hold that for miracles such as this, one must either assert the literal truth of this story, or one must then reject the story as false. However, some Jewish commentators (e.g. Saadiah Gaon and Maimonides) hold that stories such as these were never meant to be taken literally in the first place. Rather, these stories should be understood as accounts of a prophetic experience, which are dreams or visions. Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, one of the great Jewish biblical commentators of the 20th century, writes that these verses "depict the continuance on the subconscious plane of the mental and moral conflict in Balaam's soul; and the dream apparition and the speaking donkey is but a further warning to Balaam against being misled through avarice to violate God's command."

Miracles as seen by the Church Fathers

Describe here how early Christian writers viewed miracles.

References

"Gersonides on Providence, Covenant, and the Chosen People" Robert Eisen, State University of New York Press, 1995).

Lenn E. Goodman "Rambam: Readings in the Philosophy of Moses Maimonides" , Gee Bee Tee, 1985

"Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought", Menachem Kellner, Oxford University Press, 1986