Miracles

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Miracles

In Clearwater, Florida, crowds gather to pray to an image of the Virgin Mary that is said to have miraculously appeared on the side of a building. In rural churches in Tennessee the faithful believe that God will supernaturally protect them as they handle poisonous snakes during worship. New Age leaders cite theoretical physics to prove that the universe is unpredictable and hence compatible with belief in everything from astrology to out-of-body experiences (OBEs). Literal belief in the Bible's miracle stories is part of the increasingly conservative agenda in the massive Southern Baptist convention. Pentecostal faith healers like Benny Hinn talk without a blush about their repeated trips to Heaven to visit Jesus and announce raisings from the dead in their worldwide crusades.

That American religion is open to the miraculous at the end of the twentieth century is both quite natural and quite surprising. On the one hand, given the Biblical worldview that has informed Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant theology, one would expect many Jews and Christians to retain belief in the wonder-working power of the Creator. This is the especially the case for Hasidic Jews and for followers of Jesus influenced profoundly by the dominance of miracles in the four Gospels, the traditions recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and stories about the Virgin Mary and other saints.

What is surprising in the vitality of supernatural belief in American religion, Christianity in particular, is the degree to which it has survived centuries of skepticism. Here the shadow of David Hume, following in the footsteps of René Descartes (1596–1650), Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), looms most significantly. Hume (1711–1776), the famous Scottish philosopher, forever altered discussion of miracles with his brilliant and provocative essay "On Miracles." It has been the subject of hundreds of essays and books and is the key philosophical document in the enormous literature on the subject.

Hume's skepticism about miracles has been interpreted in two main directions. There are some philosophers who believe that he simply thought that miracles were impossible since they were contrary to unalterable laws of nature. This would make the issue of miracles one of logical deduction from scientific certainties. Grant the premise that laws of nature cannot be broken, and there needs to be no historical inquiry about this or that purported miracle.

Other philosophers contend that Hume was not making a scientific point but a historical one. According to these interpreters, Hume's whole essay is largely a work about human experience and historical analysis. In the end, given the fallibility of human testimony, the superstitious core in various contradictory religions, Hume believes that the wise person always remain skeptical about miraculous reports. Hume is not really saying that miracles are impossible but that they are so improbable as to be unworthy of serious consideration.

Whatever interpretation one adopts, Hume's ultimately negative verdict about miracles created an immediate shock wave in European and American thought. Christian apologists attacked his personal integrity and also mounted logical objections to his essay's argument. Hume was also targeted for his lack of clarity, a point that has been seconded even by agnostic philosophers like Antony Flew, one of Hume's best defenders and most careful critics. Is Hume making a logical case against miracles? If so, his openness to historical testimony is absurd. If his argument is largely historical, it is curious that he speaks about the "absolute impossibility" of miracles.

These points aside, despite instant replies from Christian philosophers, Hume's essay dealt a withering blow to supernaturalism. Hume's contempt for Jewish and Christian religion is masked by his professed concern for any religion that seeks to have miracles at its foundation. Hume's allies and enemies knew full well that he meant for his essay to be another blow to religion in the name of rational Enlightenment truth.

Hume's legacy had an immediate impact on biblical study. It became fashionable to reinterpret the miracles of the Bible so that the supernatural elements disappeared. Thus the story of Jesus walking on water was really just about the Nazarene reaching the disciples on a raft (unseen just below the surface of the lake). The feeding of the five thousand was actually about people sharing their hidden lunches. Jesus' resurrection was reduced to faith's encounter with his enduring teaching and example. Miracle became parable in a new liberal paradigm.

The power of Hume has waned in the last half of the twentieth century. This is due in part to mounting philosophical skepticism about the validity of Hume's specific arguments. American philosophy is no longer in the grip of thoroughly rationalistic systems (like the logical positivism of A. J. Ayer), due in part to the creative work of Christian philosophers. Alvin Plantinga, in particular, has constructed a Reformed epistemology that feels no need to build worldviews on Cartesian or Humean skepticism.

As well, science no longer wears its crown so proudly, and its utility is celebrated more than its value as the foundation for all knowledge. This is reflected in such celebrated works as Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics. As well, the astounding evidence of design in the universe makes the case for miracles of another sort seem more reasonable. Martin Gardner, a theist and critic of all religions, argues for a sense of wonder about the natural world that makes belief in God and immortality seem sensible, if not rationally certain. Finally, the new postmodern mindset has made more room for alternate understandings of the universe, even ones that allow things to go bump in the night.

Of course, the religious landscape of the United States has always been varied, despite powerful unifying trends in philosophy and theology. Even after the triumph of Charles Darwin's naturalism in the last century, many Americans became fascinated with the emerging spiritualist tradition, and its claims about contacting the spirit of dead relatives. While Protestant liberalism was losing all interest in miracles (past or present), Pentecostalism swept the nation, with astounding tales of healings and supernatural visions. After midcentury, the emergence of Billy Graham and a new evangelicalism led to greater assent to the reality of miracles, especially about the core miracles in the Biblical narrative.

The arrival of other world religions to the United States has meant new worlds of supernatural discourse. The stories of Buddha (his special birth, his powers over nature, his ultimate enlightenment) combine with the traditions about Krishna (or other Hindu gods) to rival the stories of Jesus and also unite in opposition to a secular mindset. In orthodox Islam the great miracle is its holy book (the Qur'an), delivered from heaven to the prophet Muhammad. In folk Islam, legends about Muhammad combine with animistic traditions to create a world where Allah's infinite powers extend to every aspect of nature and daily life.

The United States is also home to many new religions that have no worries about Hume and his legacy. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, alleges that he has been to heaven to converse with God directly. The Mormon Church is built on reports of angelic visits to their prophet Joseph Smith. Scientology's therapy program is rooted in phenomenal stories about humanity's cycles of reincarnation. Shirley MacLaine's miracle-laden New Age life got repeated national coverage in the mid-1980s. In the 1990s angel stories circulate freely, creating a whole new market for books, trinkets, and television shows.

Hume's arguments still have enormous power in American intellectual life or in religious traditions as they subject other religions to his skeptical thrusts. On the whole, however, Hume would be disappointed that his Enlightenment skepticism held power so briefly and has virtually no impact on the lives of millions of Americans who believe that with God (or Buddha or the Force or your inner self, and so on) that "all things are possible."