What are miracles?
In everyday speech, a “miracle” is an unlikely event, or series of events, which have a good outcome. Such as a child being rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building against all the odds. Nothing non-physical or supernatural need be involved.
Sometimes there is reference to a “miracle of modern technology” affirming that, to a pre-scientific people, technology would be interpreted as magic.
In the context of religious belief, “miracles” mean different things and have a different significance to different people.
In the East, where the predominant belief is in “non-dualism” (advaita), the distinction between natural and supernatural disappears and the idea of miracle is an amazing feat which can be performed by those who are advanced in spiritual practices, such as walking on water, but this is not considered supernatural or something to be aspired to.
In the West, influenced by the Monotheism of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, a “miracle” is thought of as an act of God which is not limited by natural laws. They are supernatural. Their purpose is often to give credence to the words of a prophet or a preacher.
In Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus is the essential supernatural event which gives credence to His teaching about Himself and how to live and without which Christianity could not exist. His miracles (of healing, water into wine, calming of a storm, etc.) are described as “signs” which point to Himself as Messiah.
In Islam, the giving of the Quran is considered to be a miracle which testifies to its authenticity.
In addition to these “public miracles”, intended as signs, such as the resurrection of Jesus or a divine healing there are “private miracles” which are given for individual encouragement or transformation. [1]
Western physicalists would deny that any miracles of the supernatural kind were possible because they do not believe in the supernatural. They, and modern neuroscientists, would rather point to the psychological biases by which humans are prone to interpret mundane events as supernatural and assert that reported miracles are nothing more than that.
Are miracles possible?
Physicalists, such as David Hume [1], argue that it is never possible to rationally believe a miracle, based on the evidence available. On the other hand, Theists, such as Richard Swinburne [2], argue that in some circumstances, a miraculous explanation is the most probable one.
“No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the falsehood of that testimony would be more miraculous than the fact it tries to establish.”
David Hume
Or, in other words, Hume argues that:
- A miracle is a violation of natural law.
- Natural laws are supported by uniform experience.
- So any claim of a miracle is less probable than the idea that the testimony is false—whether by deception, error, or misunderstanding.
and reasons that:
- Miracles are maximally improbable by definition.
- Human testimony is fallible and error-prone.
- Therefore, it’s always more rational to disbelieve the miracle than to accept the testimony.
However, Hume’s argument begs the question by assuming a physicalist world view that rules out miracles a priori. Not all experience is “uniform” especially those which are called miracles.
Hume didn’t say miracles are impossible—just that they are never rational to believe, based on the evidence available. However, if God exists, then miracles are not hugely improbable—they may even be expected in some situations (to communicate, heal, or affirm).
Swinburne presents an argument based on probability theory by which it can be judged whether a particular event is more likely to be miraculous of simply the outworking of natural laws in an unusual way.
Given an unlikely event to have happened, the perceived likelihood of it being a miracle depends on two things:
- How strongly one believes in the existence of God and His willingness to intervene and the likelihood of the event happening by purely natural causes.
- The likelihood of the event having happened in the absence of supernatural intervention.
For an atheist, the perceived probability of a miracle is zero regardless of how unusual or inexplicable the event. To a Theist, the more unlikely the event, the more likely it will be interpreted as a miracle. For an agnostic, the unlikeliness of an event needed to convince would depend on how close he was to the atheistic end of the spectrum.
This approach demonstrates that, contrary to Hume, belief in miracles can be rational but it does not prove that miracles definitely happen.
There are many events which are described as miraculous and the vast majority can be explained by physical causes. However there are a substantial number for which a physical cause is very unlikely indeed and that a miracle is the most likely explanation.
Two examples of modern day events with a high probability of being supernatural miracles are described here.
[1] “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”, David Hume, 1748
[2] Swinburne, Richard. The Concept of Miracle. London: Macmillan, 1970.