Historical attestation: Eyewitness We material in Acts 20:9-12; 28:8-9 Paul cites Corinthians knowledge (2 Cor 12:12; cf. 1 Cor 12; Gal 3) Paul cites his own (Rom 15:19) testimony
Every layer of G. tradition (Q [Is 35], Mk, special M, L, Jn; also Rev, Paul) Jos. Ant. 18.63: Jesus worked paradoxa In 9.182, used for Elisha s miracles Jesus miracles
Opponents of early Christianity Celsus Rabbis Sorcery charge Thus most scholars today admit that Jesus was so experienced by Galileans (R. Brown, O. Betz, E. P. Sanders; J. Meier; M. Smith)
Eschatological signs Q (Matt 11:5/Lk 7:22) May allude to Is 35:5-6 Qumran may have combined these same texts (4Q521) Suggesting popular understanding of what Jesus meant Messianic era/kingdom and healings Also Matt 12/Lk 11: If I by the finger/spirit of God cast out demons, the Kingdom has come on you (more effective than Josephus false prophets)
Some thinkers deny eyewitnesses They deny both ancient eyewitnesses and modern ones Ironically, they should have known better! E.g., Rudolf Bultmann David Friedrich Strauss Ethan Allen (Deist)
Some NT scholars still treat many NT miracle reports as if they must reflect legendary accretions and cannot reflect eyewitness sources Bultmann: mature modern people do not believe in miracles no one can or does seriously maintain the New Testament worldview
Bultmann dismissed legends about Karl Barth considered Blumhardt a mentor Information about Blumhardt NOT legendary We have firsthand diaries, letters, including of other witnesses Blumhardt
Earlier, David Friedrich Strauss (1808-1874) (picture in common domain, copyright expired; Wikipedia Commons)
But Strauss friend cured! German Lutheran pastor Johann Christoph Blumhardt (photo in public domain)
US public domain Ethan Allen, deist, 1738-1789 1784/5 pamphlet: Reason the Only Oracle of Man (sold 200 copies): In those parts of the world where learning and science have prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in those parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue Irony: his grandson, Ethan O. Allen (1813-1902): effective healing minister (info from Paul King)
Modern Worldviews and Miracles
Problem today: views from David Hume (1711-1776) miracles are not part of human experience
Hume s first argument 1. Miracles violate natural law 2. Natural law cannot be violated 3. Therefore, miracles don t happen BUT WHO SAYS that God cannot act upon, change or violate natural law if he wills? Hume simply presupposes this without admitting that he s doing so. This is a statement of Hume s opinion, not an argument.
Many early Enlightenment scientific thinkers E.g., Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle (father of chemistry) Envisioned laws in nature only because there had been a Legislator, and expressly insisted that God was free to change them Early Newtonians accepted biblical miracles Earlier, Sister Celeste was Galileo s daughter and spiritual advisor
Much of Hume s argument Depends on miracles violating deterministic natural law But modern physics has a completely different conception of natural law!
Hume s view of natural law Depends on observed regularities in nature This in turn relates to his Argument #2 his major argument
Supposedly inductive, but (often noted) actually circular Experience shows no miracles Well-supported eyewitness claims for miracles must be rejected because miracles cannot happen (or at least be shown to have probably happened)
Thus dismissed Jansenist reports Easy target (Catholic, Protestant polemic)
Healing of Pascal s niece s running sore Instant Public Queen Mother s physician
Recent major philosophic challenges to Hume on miracles: J. Houston, Reported Miracles: A critique of Hume (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) David Johnson, Hume, Holism, and Miracles (Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion; Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999) John Earman, Hume s Abject Failure (Oxford, 2000) (not from Christian view) Much of Richard Swinburne, The Concept of Miracle (New Studies in the Philosophy of Religion; London: Macmillan and Co., 1970)
For each subject, we use the Much science involves experiments Events in history, including miracles, not subject to experiments appropriate method
History, journalism, law often depend on eyewitnesses
Hume s principle of uniformity: past not different from today Adopted by Troeltsch, others Itself possibly open to challenge, but: acceptable for current point Principle of analogy today supports healings in Gospels (Gerd Theissen, others) Most historical Jesus scholars see Jesus as miracleworker (Vermes, Sanders, Theissen, M. Smith) (w/o viewing them as divine)
Merely philosophic premises Not neutral R. Bultmann: Mature modern people do not believe in miracles case closed 1989 poll: 82% of U.S. believes in miracles (only 6% completely rejected)
Limits of Hume s/bultmann s Monocultural samples Hume s range of considered experience too narrow
Hume: only ignorant and barbarous nations affirm miracles If someone said this today, we would call him/her an ethnocentric bigot
Hume s racism part 1 Hume s anti-semitism is known Hume said all great inventions, art, etc., from white civilizations
Hume s racism part 2 Hume supported slavery Abolitionists had to argue against him
Hume s racism part 3 Hume doubted exceptional persons of color Thus e.g., Francis Williams (picture in public domain)
Bultmann: mature modern people do It is impossible to use the electric light and the wireless and to believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles. not believe in miracles
Bultmann: mature modern people do not believe in miracles Doesn t offer an argument merely dismisses those who disagree
Bultmann: Modern world denies miracles Excludes from the modern world: All traditional Jews Traditional Christians Traditional Muslims Traditional tribal religionists Spiritists Limits the modern world to: Westerners shaped by the radical Enlightenment: Deists & atheists (including Marxist derivatives)
Justo González (citing Latino churches): what Bultmann declares to be impossible is not just possible, but even frequent Hwa Yung, retired Methodist bishop of Malaysia Bultmann s issue is W., not relevant in Asia Philip Jenkins: Christianity in the global South is quite interested in the immediate workings of the supernatural John S. Mbiti: most western scholars expose their own ignorance, false ideas, exaggerated prejudices and a derogatory attitude that fails to take seriously genuine experiences pervasive in Africa
How widespread are healing claims? (starting with churches known for that emphasis)
Major academic studies, e.g.