Miracle
A miracle, in the most common and everyday definition of the word, is an intervention by God in the universe. In order to achive some goal, or to teach some lesson, God suspends the laws of nature to produce a supernatural occurance. This happens by either violating the laws of physics, skewing the statistical probability of an event happening, or possibly both.
However, one must keep in mind that in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and in other faiths substantially different definitions of the word "miracle" exist. Even within a given specific religion there is often more than one useage of the term.
The Biblical view of miracles: The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
The views seen in the Tanakh are more or less the same as the modern-day, popular definition of the word "miracle", as described above. Note that there are fewer outright miracles in the Bible than is commonly believed. For instance, consider the splitting of Yam Suf, 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 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.
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 are events pre-planned by God
In Judaism, the rabbis of the Talmud seemed to hold that the laws of nature were inviolable, like modern science holds. The idea of miracles that contravened the laws of nature were hard to accept for many Jews. Yet at the same time they affirmed the truth of the accounts in the Tanakh; therefore some of the rabbis 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.
Neo-Aristotelian views of miracles
- Maimonides's view of miracles
- Gersonides's view of miracles
- Christian neo-Aristotelian philosopher's view of miracles
- Muslim neo-Aristotelian philosopher's view of miracles
- (to be added)
Non-literal reinterpretations of miracles
(To be added)
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