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Miracle

A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific laws[2] and accordingly gets attributed to some supernatural or praeternatural cause. Various religions often attribute a phenomenon characterized as miraculous to the actions of a supernatural being, (especially) a deity, a miracle worker, a saint, or a religious leader.

For other uses, see Miracle (disambiguation).

Informally, English-speakers often use the word miracle to characterise any beneficial event that is statistically unlikely but not contrary to the laws of nature, such as surviving a natural disaster, or simply a "wonderful" occurrence, regardless of likelihood (e.g. "the miracle of childbirth"). Some coincidences may be seen as miracles.[3]


A true miracle would, by definition, be a non-natural phenomenon, leading many writers to dismiss miracles as physically impossible (that is, requiring violation of established laws of physics within their domain of validity) or impossible to confirm by their nature (because all possible physical mechanisms can never be ruled out). The former position is expressed (for instance) by Thomas Jefferson, and the latter by David Hume. Theologians typically say that, with divine providence, God regularly works through nature yet, as a creator, may work without, above, or against it as well.[4]

Definitions[edit]

The word miracle is usually used to describe any beneficial event that is physically impossible or impossible to confirm by nature.[2] Wayne Grudem defines a miracle as "a less common kind of God's activity in which he arouses people's awe and wonder and bears witness to himself."[5] A deistic perspective of God's relation to the world defines a miracle as a direct intervention of God into the world.[6][7]

Ton Bersee On the Meaning of 'Miracle' in Christianity. An Evaluation of the Current Miracle Debate and a Proposal of a Balanced Hermeneutical Approach, Peeters Publishers, 2021

Stephen Brogan The Royal Touch in Early Modern England: Politics, Medicine and Sin, Royal Historical Society, 2015

H. A. Drake A Century of Miracles: Christians, Pagans, Jews and the Supernatural, 312–410, Oxford University Press, 2017  978-0199367412

ISBN

Miracle Mongers and Their Methods: A Complete Expose Prometheus Books; Reprint edition (1993) originally published in 1920 ISBN 0-87975-817-1.

Houdini, Harry

Robert Knapp The Dawn of Christianity: People and Gods in a Time of Magic and Miracles, Profile books, Great Britain, 2017  978-1781252079

ISBN

and Richard Smith Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power Princeton University Press, 1999

Marvin Meyer

D. Michaelides (editor) Medicine and Healing in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Oxbow Books, 2014

Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions & Healing Cures, Prometheus Books, 1997

Joe Nickell

Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle, Random House, 1975

William A. Nolen

The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity, W.W. Norton & Co., 1997

Roy Porter

The Faith Healers, Prometheus Books, 1987

James Randi

Matthew Rowley and Natasha Hodgson (eds), Miracles, Political Authority and Violence in Medieval and Early Modern History. London, Routledge, 2022

(1896 first edition. A classic work constantly reprinted) A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, See chapter 13, part 2, Growth of Legends of Healing: the life of Saint Francis Xavier as a typical example.

Andrew Dickson White

Rory Roybal . Xulon Press, 2005.

Miracles or Magic?

article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Miracles

Skeptic's Dictionary on miracles

Skepdic.com

Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

"Miracle" 

, ed. (1911). "Miracle" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Chisholm, Hugh

"" in the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science.

Miracle

The history of thinking about miracles in the West

an Indian Skeptic's explanation of miracles: By Yuktibaadi, compiled by Basava Premanand

Mukto-mona.com

Andrew Lang, , "Science and 'Miracles'", The Making of Religion Chapter II, Longmans, Green, and Co., London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 14–38.

Psychanalyse-paris.com

Almut Hoefert (ed.): Miracles, Marvels and Monsters in the Middle Ages. (Living History Books, published in 2016 by the professional portal of the historical sciences in Switzerland, info-clio.ch)

[1]

Hume on Miracles