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Miracle

Overview The concept of miracle raises the question of whether it is coherent to think of God interacting and intervening with human affairs. The topic is far wider than students may realise and is not just an argument about whether they happen. The concept of miracle raises issues about the nature of God and whether such a God is justified in permitting evil. The specific topics covered are: • • • •

different ideas of how miracles are to be defined the Biblical concept of miracles and the issues raised by this the criticisms of miracles made by Hume the criticism made by Maurice Wiles that the idea of miracles would suggest an arbitrary and partisan God • the issue of whether modern people can and should be expected to believe in miracles • the link between miracles and the problem of evil. The following teacher notes link directly to the OCR specification, the OCR SOW and the A2 Philosophy and Ethics student book to provide complete support throughout the delivery of the specification. Links to the CD-ROM resources are provided throughout and worksheets to support the activities follow these teacher notes, as well as further exam support in the extended Exam Café.

Introduction This topic follows on well from religious experience and both can be seen as ways in which God reveals himself to human beings. However, it is possible to teach the topics in any order. One useful document in this PDR is the notes on faith and reason (worksheet 3.4) as this issue can be seen to underpin both topics. This document gives an overview of historical positions on whether religious concepts and claims can be rationally analysed. This is also shown in the visual spread in the student book (pages 68–69). It is perhaps important to establish the idea that in order to prove whether miracles occur, it is important to first define what a miracle is.



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Different definitions of miracle (student book pages 56–57 and also lesson plan pages 37)

Starter The student book (page 55) introduces the topic of miracles by the claims made by some churches that God had miraculously replaced fillings with golden ones. It may be possible to get an image of one of these cases on the interactive whiteboard. If you wish to give students more background information, the web contains various articles easily accessible via a search engine. The case is an odd miracle claim and should elicit some good discussion. This may include how the case might be verified, whether this sort of action is worthy of God or whether we can analyse God’s actions in a logical manner. © Owned by or under licence to Pearson Education Limited, 2009

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Development and resources Worksheet 3.1 gives some suggested miracles. Students could fill in the sheet and decide on whether each event would count as a miracle if it happened. One common error that students make with this sheet is to misread it and fill it in on the basis of whether the event can happen. It is worth stressing the hypothetical nature of the exercise. Having filled in the sheet, students can attempt to define what a miracles is. Paired support might be a way of helping weaker students here. Once the definitions have been attempted, it may be that you can get them to think a little by putting counterexamples to some of the definitions. Pages 56–57 of the student book look at the two classic definitions of miracle. Hume’s definition is regarded as a ‘violation’ definition and involves natural laws being broken. Holland’s definition is more to do with the significance attached to events which may be natural. The famous example of the boy on the train track is included on the CD-ROM. One way to check understanding is to encourage students to summarise the two definitions and provide their own examples. Students need to consider the strengths and weaknesses of these definitions. These can be discussed in the plenary. They may wish to go back to the examples on the worksheet to clarify their thinking.

Differentiation More-able students may wish to consider the definition of miracle given by Gareth Moore. Moore has a rather unusual view of God. He says God is no one, meaning not a being in any sense we can understand. When we say that a miracle is an act of God, we are literally saying that there is no explanation known to us, no one (God) did it. There is a sample of Moore’s view on the CD-ROM.

Plenary One quick plenary activity would involve issuing the students with post-it notes on which to record a strength or weakness of one of the two definitions. One by one students can come to the front to stick their post-its on to pre-prepared A3 pages (one for each of the two definitions). A template for this is available on the CD-ROM and this could be enlarged to A3 size. © Owned by or under licence to Pearson Education Limited, 2009

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The biblical concept of miracle (student book pages 58–59)

Starter A light-hearted introduction to the topic might be to play miracle ‘Blankety Blank’ using some miracle stories from the Bible. There is a PowerPoint for this activity on the CD-ROM. Students in groups have to decide what they think happened next. This is particularly effective in getting everyone up to speed if most of the group is not from a religious background.

Development and resources Pages 58–59 of the student book cover the topic of the biblical miracles. One way of saving time would be to split students into groups and allocate different miracles to be looked at. Key questions for the group to consider would be: ‘what is learned about God or Jesus through the account?’, ‘does the account need to be believed literally?’, etc. Some issues may arise regarding God taking sides or punishing people miraculously, e.g. the plagues of Egypt. These issues will be considered fully during the discussion of Maurice Wiles, which could follow this topic if felt to be more appropriate. Some possible stories that could be used are included on the CD-ROM.

Differentiation More-able students may make links between this topic and the topic of revelation through scripture. Are the accounts of miracles eye-witness accounts or revealed by God propositionally? Alternatively, these events may have been experiences that were interpreted or accounts passed down orally. More-able students should be able to see these connections and write about them.

Plenary If group work has been used in this topic, it is important to use the plenary to allow each group to feed back the results of their work. Ask students what images of the characteristics of God arise as a result of the miracle stories. Explain that the issues 

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regarding the nature of God will be dealt with in chapter 4.

The criticisms made by David Hume (student book pages 60–63)

Starter Provide students with some newspaper stories or web articles that are particularly remarkable, e.g. ‘B52 bomber found on the moon’, ‘Kidnapped by aliens’, etc. and invite students to comment on whether they are likely to be true. Some examples are included on the CD-ROM. Alternatively, watch an extract of the TV series Heroes. Students are likely to be sceptical of the accounts. The key questions are: ‘why are they sceptical?’ and ‘how do you decide whether to believe an account?’ This discussion is likely to touch on several of Hume’s key points.

Development and resources Pages 60–63 of the student book give a synopsis of Hume’s views as outlined in his book Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding. Worksheet 3.2 is a more detailed outline of the views that Hume expresses. There is also an extract of text on the CD-ROM. Hume is very clear in his rejection of miracles, although some feel that his main point on whether miracles are impossible is ambiguous. If he is saying that they are totally impossible, he is making a kind of universal statement that his earlier views on causation and induction do not allow. Remember that one of his criticisms of the cosmological argument is that we cannot be sure of the link between cause and effect; it may just be a psychological habit that we believe in laws of nature. However, even if he is not totally ruling out miracles, he argues that we have to go on the evidence available to us. The key quote ‘a wise man proportions his belief according to the evidence’ should probably be displayed prominently somewhere in the room. Hume’s criteria then for accepting a miracle is that we can only do so if the testimonies are of such a quality that it would



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be more miraculous for them to be false. This is something that he doesn’t think can happen. The four practical arguments are usually better remembered by students but it is worth noting that these form a supporting role in his argument. Hume is writing before the days of political correctness so some allowances have to be made for his style, but students may feel that he has a point about the type of person who believes in miracles. There is potential for good discussion here. With regard to Hume’s main argument that miracles can be rejected as the laws of nature are confirmed by induction, students’ attention may be brought to the attacks on induction in 20th century philosophy of science. Karl Popper rejects the idea that we reason this way and argues that high probability does not always guarantee a theory’s success. The more probable a theory, the less informative it is, as the cost of high probability is a high level of generalisation. Popper’s own view is that science works by providing hypotheses that are subject to falsification (see chapter 1 on Religious Language). If Popper is right, then Hume’s claims about the laws of nature are weakened. One way of checking that students have got Hume’s view clear might be to present the class with a miracles account and ask them to write a 300–400word report as if they were David Hume explaining whether they accept or reject the account.

Differentiation The Hume extracts on the CD-ROM, read alongside worksheet 3.2 in the PDR, may enable more-able students to get a deeper understanding of this thinker. Weaker students should probably look initially at the account in the student book.

Plenary A brief discussion on whether Hume has a strong case should raise some potential weaknesses that can be explored next time.

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Plenary

The criticism made by Wiles – an arbitrary and partisan God

Hume or Wiles: Give each student in turn a statement and ask them to state whether it is Hume, Wiles or neither. Differentiation can be achieved by carefully targeting easier or harder statements. An outline for this activity is given on the CD-ROM.

(student book pages 64–65)

Starter Present students with a list of miracles which includes turning water into wine, Jesus’ resurrection, the golden fillings, preventing Auschwitz, etc. You could use the miracles listed on worksheet 3.1 considered earlier. Which do students think should have the highest priority? What would the conclusion be if God were doing some of the lesser ones at the expense of the greater?

Development and resources Pages 64–65 of the student book explain Wiles’ view on miracles. It is worth explaining to students that Wiles is writing this from a Christian perspective. His key point is that if the biblical accounts are taken literally, then God does a number of miracles that are random and partisan (in student speak, he takes sides and has favourites!) Such a God could not be seen as good and would not deserve to be worshipped. For Wiles, it is better that God does no miracles at all. Some have suggested that this is a deistic view of a God who creates and then does not intervene. However this is not Wiles’ view. For Wiles, God is the ever present sustainer of the world. As for the miracle accounts in the Bible, although these are not literally true, they have great value symbolically.

Differentiation Student learning could be consolidated at this point by using mind mapping to sum up the criticisms of both Wiles and Hume. This is also an opportunity to bring in the question of faith vs reason. Are we to expect God’s miracles to make sense to us? To what extent can humans rationally analyse the acts of God? More-able students may also spot a link to verification. To claim that God did something is unverifiable and, for some thinkers, meaningless.

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Miracles and the modern day (student book pages 62–63 and lesson plan page 37)

Starter As the students come in, have a provocative quote on the board, such as ‘It is harder to believe in miracles now than it has ever been’. This should elicit a reasonable discussion.

Development and resources The topic of miracles is still a current one and it could be argued that the modern debate is largely an attempt to engage with the thinking of Hume. The student book looks at thinkers such as Flew, C.S. Lewis, Swinburne and Polkinghorne. One way to encourage independent learning might be to set students a small research project on one of these thinkers. They could use pages 62–63 of the book as a base before branching out using the web or resources from the library. There are some original extracts from Swinburne and Lewis on the CDROM. Students could then present their work in a future lesson. This could take the form of splitting a one-hour lesson into four slots of 15 minutes and getting students to present their thinker and issue a handout. (I usually ask students to e-mail me handouts prior to the lesson so that I can do any editing required.) Once students have a good grasp of modern thinkers to go with their work on Hume and Wiles, they may be ready to tackle worksheet 3.3. This gives them the opportunity to apply the thinkers they have learned about to miracle claims. The uncanny ability of students to find bizarre material on the internet is, for once, an advantage here!



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Differentiation Differentiation in the above task can be achieved by giving Flew and Polkinghorne to more-able students and allocating Swinburne or Lewis to the less confident, although none of the thinkers can be said to be ‘easy’.

Plenary One possible approach to the plenary is to return to the discussion held earlier and see how students’ opinions may have changed having studied the modern perspectives.

The concept of miracle and the problem of evil (student book pages 66–67)

Starter It may be worth doing a quick quiz such as the one on the CD-ROM to recap what the problem of evil is and the different theodicies of Augustine and Irenaeus. Pose the question as to what this may have to do with the problem of evil.

Development and resources Pages 66–67 of the student book outline some perspectives on this topic. Perhaps the key viewpoint is that of Wiles, who is essentially arguing that miracles in fact add to the problem of evil. Part of the response to this may again draw on the discussion between faith and reason (worksheet 3.4). In suggesting that some miracles add to the evil, we would be claiming to understand the workings of God. Maybe there are higher purposes at work that we cannot comprehend. One way to gain a firm grasp on this topic might be to do a jigsaw essay. A question on whether miracles solve or add to the problem of evil could be answered in groups. The student book gives



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four possible paragraph areas. Once an essay plan has been given, allocate each pair a paragraph to write. These can either be e-mailed to the teacher or to each other in order to complete the essay. It is worth getting each student to write an introduction and conclusion so that they gain practice at this valuable skill. The phone-in audio and transcript on the CD-ROM provides a different way of covering this topic.

Differentiation In doing the jigsaw essay, it is important to ensure that either students are supported by an appropriate partner or, if friendship pairs are chosen, that each is given a paragraph in keeping with their abilities.

Plenary Students may be able to consolidate their learning by producing a poster on the miracles topic. Each group or pair could be given a different poster. Possible titles might include ‘Arguments for and against miracles’, ‘Are miracles fair?’, ‘Miracles and the problem of evil’, ‘Biblical views on miracles’, ‘Modern views of miracles’. These posters can be displayed in the room for several weeks in order to remind students of the topic.

Exam Café (student book pages 70–71) The Exam Cafe in the student book (pages 70–71) gives some useful advice on reaching A and A* grades. It is important that students work outside the lesson, read books and do not just rely on condensed teacher notes no matter how good they are. The bonus Exam Café also follows this theme by reminding students of the need to engage with the arguments of key thinkers, rather than just rely on ‘so and so says’ type answers.

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Lesson plan: Miracle Chapter 3: Lesson plan Heinemann recognises that the teaching of this qualification will vary greatly from school to school and from teacher to teacher. With that in mind, this lesson plan is offered as a possible approach but will be subject to modifications by the individual teacher. Lesson length is assumed to be one hour.

Learning objectives for the lesson Objective 

Students to know and understand at least two different definitions of the concept of miracle.

Objective 

Students to be able to justify their opinion regarding which definition is the best.

Recap of previous experience and prior knowledge This is the first lesson on the topic of miracles. There is no recap as such but it may be worth making clear the links between this topic and the previous topic, religious experience. Both are claimed to be ways in which God is revealed to the world.

Content Time

Content

0 minutes

Stimulus: the case of the golden filling. Using an image on the interactive whiteboard, raise the question as to whether this was really an act of God. The student book gives an outline of the case (page 55). Discussion may include issues of whether God might have bigger priorities, perhaps it is not our place to question the actions of God.

 minutes

Explain that, in order to decide whether miracles happen or whether an event is a miracle, we must first define what miracles are. Issue worksheet 3.1 and encourage students to fill in whether each event would count as a miracle or not. In pairs, they should then attempt to define what a miracle is. It may be that here the teacher can offer some possible counterexamples to throw a spanner in the works of some of the definitions.

 minutes

Using pages 56–57 students look at the two classic definitions of miracle. The students may wish to look at Holland’s famous account of the boy on the train track (CD-ROM). Students summarise the two definitions and provide their own examples.

0 minutes

In pairs, students consider the strengths and weaknesses of these definitions, these can be discussed in the plenary.

Consolidation Time 0 minutes

Content Students are issued with post-it notes on which to record a strength or weakness of one of the two definitions. One by one, they come to the front to stick their post-its on to preprepared A3 pages (one for each of the two definitions).

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3.1 What is a miracle? Look at the examples given below and discuss, in pairs, which events would count as miracles if they were to occur. Event



Miracle (Yes/No)

1. A child being born. 2. Jesus turning water into wine. 3. Scientists cloning human embryos. 4. Winning the lottery. 5. The death of all Egyptian firstborn sons, as described in the Bible. 6. A person coming back from the dead after dying two days earlier. 7. The school’s football team beating a full strength Chelsea team 2–0. 8. A blind man regains his sight after prayer. 9. Being able to travel at the speed of light . 10. Jesus feeding the 5,000 with a few loaves and fish. 11. Scientists inventing a potion that enables people to live forever. 12. The devil causing objects to hover in mid air.

Tasks 1. Look at your answers. These show what you think a miracle is. What do the things you’ve ticked have in common? Which could be natural events? Are any impossible? Does God or some other supernatural power have to be involved? 2. Read pages 56–57 of the student book. Which of the above would be miracles using Hume’s definition of a violation? Which would be miracles using Holland’s definition? 3. How would you define the concept of miracle? Explain your answer.



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3.2 Hume on miracles Introduction Hume famously attacks the idea of miracles in chapter 10 of his book Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding. Having outlined in previous chapters the idea that our mind consists entirely of things gained from experience, he seeks to apply this to a range of issues. This leads him to question causation and observe that laws of cause and effect are ideas that we acquire by habit. Hume also rejects the idea of chance and argues that the behaviour of objects is predictable scientifically. This worksheet summarises chapter 10 in detail.

Part 1 1. Hume begins his account by observing that ‘A wise man proportions his belief according to the evidence’. There is no such thing as chance but our mind naturally inclines towards whatever it considers to be most probable. 2. Given that we did not directly observe the miracles, the only evidence that is available to us is the testimonies and accounts of those who do claim to have seen miracles. Hence, the issue is how we decide whether to believe others or not. 3. This cannot be decided a priori. We can only base our judgements on what we have actually experienced. Hume gives the example of an Indian prince who doubted what others told him about frost. Hume suggests that the prince is right to reject this idea as it is outside anything that he has experienced. 4. Hume reminds us that the definition of the concept of miracle is ‘a transgression of a natural law by a particular volition of the Deity’. Our experience of the laws of nature teaches us that these are uniform and constant. As such, we can safely assume that they were not broken in the past and are unlikely to be broken in the future. ‘A uniform experience amounts to a proof…A full and direct proof, against the existence of any miracle.’ Hume is using Induction. Every time we experience the regularity that we call the laws of nature, it reinforces our idea that the laws of nature always apply and in doing so, makes belief in miracles even less reasonable. 5. HARD: This may seem to contradict Hume’s ideas expressed earlier in the Enquiries that we cannot reason to the laws of nature. The constant link between events is only called cause and effect because these events are linked for us psychologically. Each time we have let go of an object we have seen it fall to the floor, hence we say that event A causes event B. However, if every time you heard the word ‘tomato’ the student next to you started dancing, you would assume that there was cause and effect here too. However, one way of understanding Hume might be to say that the impossibility is one of definition. If we had complete knowledge of nature and this was a uniform experience then something would have to break this uniformity in order to be a miracle. But if it did break it, there is no longer a uniformity to compare the event to. 6. Hume’s main point seems to be the impossibility of proving that a miracle has occurred. He suggests that, unless it would be more miraculous for the witnesses to be mistaken, we should not believe the account. ‘No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact which it endeavours to establish.’

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Part 2 In part 2 of the chapter, Hume gives four practical arguments to show that miracles are highly unlikely. 1. ‘There is not to be found in all history any miracle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unquestioned good sense, education and learning, as to secure us against all delusion in themselves…’ It is unclear exactly how Hume is defining education and good sense or how many witnesses would be sufficient. Nevertheless, his general point about the testimony surrounding most miracles may be seen as valid. 2. Logically, the mind ought to go with the balance of probability but psychologically we have a natural tendency for things of ‘surprise and wonder’. Hume gives the example of how enthusiastically audiences hear travellers’ tales of sea monsters and mythical creatures. He observes that if religion is joined to the love of wonder, then we have the end of common sense. There may also be a darker motive at work; ‘the religionist…May know his narrative to be false and yet persevere with it’ for the sake of a holy cause. 3. It is mainly amongst the ‘ignorant and barbarous nations’ that miracles are reported and believed. ‘It is strange that such prodigious events never happen in our days.’ Hume observes that the alternative explanation ‘that men should lie’ is not strange. It is a fact of human nature. 4. Finally, Hume notes that all religions carry miracle stories yet they cannot all be right. The sets of testimonies would seem to cancel each other out. If miracle stories aim to establish the truth of the belief system they are found within, then this would leave us with completely opposite beliefs and ideas being put forward. 5. Hume concludes the chapter by considering two examples. He notes the recent alleged miracles at the tomb of Abbe Paris and observes that none of the testimonies given would even amount to a probability, let alone give proof. 6. His second example considers the theoretical case of Queen Elizabeth I having come back from the dead after a month. Hume argues that he would look for a natural explanation. It might cause surprise if all historians were claiming this had happened, but Hume is adamant that the cunning of human beings would yield a natural explanation.

Conclusion Hume concludes his chapter by stating that reason cannot establish the miracles that Christianity is based upon. Only faith can persuade someone to believe in miracles. In fact, faith within a person is a kind of miracle in itself. These are cryptic comments and may be taken as evidence of Hume’s own position or a tongue in cheek remark to conceal atheistic views.

Tasks 1. Why do some thinkers accuse Hume of being inconsistent regarding laws of nature? Do you think that they are right? 2. What weaknesses are there in Hume’s four practical arguments? 3. Is Hume correct to suggest that no testimony can ever establish miracles? Does the answer change given our modern global media?

0

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3.3 Miracles: Research task What evidence is there to support the belief in miracles?

It’s a miracle! You will need to play the detective for this task. Choose two miracle stories: one ancient (possibly from scripture) and one modern. You can access a number of modern claims to miracles on websites by using an internet search engine. You should follow the bullet point guidance below before writing up your findings in a report. 1. State your terms and definitions: Explain how you are defining the idea of miracle. In other words, what criteria do the events you are looking at have to satisfy in order to count? 2. Call your expert witnesses! What would the following thinkers have to say about the cases in question? • • •

Write a paragraph outlining how Hume might respond. Write a few sentences giving the views of Maurice Wiles. Introduce a couple of supporters of miracles such as Richard Swinburne or C.S. Lewis. How might they view these particular cases?

3. Give your recommendations. Based on what you have found out, do the events in question count as miracles? Is it likely that they actually happened? What might they tell us about God?

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3.4 Faith and reason The key question The debate between faith and reason is central to the topics of religious experience and miracles. The key question is: ‘to what extent does it matter if religious claims are reasonable or logical?’ Maybe religious ideas are just a matter of faith.

The Devil’s Whore: the dangers of philosophy Leading Protestant reformer Martin Luther famously called philosophy ‘the Devil’s Whore’. The Medieval Scholastic systems for all their cleverness had failed to bring him to faith in Christ. Luther is not alone in Christian history in suggesting the reason and philosophical argument are actually bad news. The 2nd-century Bishop of Carthage, Tertullian was arguably the first fideist. He was concerned that Christianity had become muddled as a result of taking on some of the philosophical ideas of Plato and the Stoics. He asked, ’What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What harmony can there be between the academy and the church?’ In more recent times, the view that faith is more important than philosophical reason was defended by the philosopher Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard, the father of existentialism, believed that God could not be found through education and philosophy, when we consider the arguments for and against belief in God they cancel each other out. Kierkegaard states that we must take a ‘leap of faith’ with infinite passion and contrary to reason. In doing so, we will land in the open arms of God. In the 20th century, theologian Karl Barth responded to Emil Brunner’s suggestion that natural theology was possible with the short title ‘Nein!’ Barth believed that the gospel was in danger whenever philosophy came into theology. Barth argued that reason was of no value, otherwise we wouldn’t need faith and revelation.

Fideism assessed The views described above are known as fideism (fides=faith). This is the view that faith takes priority over reason, or even that it has nothing at all to do with reason. Religious beliefs are irrational and rightly so. Some fideists suggest that by subjecting religious beliefs to rational analysis, we are in effect placing reason above God. However, the approach of fideism has several weaknesses divorced from reason. •

If we reject reason, how can we decide which is the best faith to ‘leap’ for?

•

Rational evaluation need not be damaging to faith.

•

Fideism is self-defeating. If I claim that fideism is true, I must have a reason for doing so. However, if I give a justification, I am no longer a fideist.

Let’s be reasonable about this! The case for rationalism We are here using the word rationalism in a general sense of using reason and argument to defend ideas. Reason uses the rules of logic and the discoveries of science. It is this that has enabled humans to progress. The rationalists’ motto is the famous quote by W.K. Clifford, ‘It is always wrong to believe something upon insufficient evidence’. However, rationalists disagree about what exactly is proved.

The rationalist family •

Some philosophers argue that reason shows the absurdity of faith. Thinkers such as Hume and Russell have offered skilled objections to the arguments for God. They are supported by linguistic philosophers such as Ayer and Flew who point out the difficulties in making religious statements. They are joined by scientists and social scientists such as Darwin, Freud and Marx who all conclude against belief in God.



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•

Other thinkers suggest that reason can lead to religious faith. Clement of Alexandria (2nd century) believed that God had given the Greeks philosophy in the same way that the Jews had Old Testament law to prepare them for faith in Christ. Thomas Aquinas argued that God’s existence could be proved by reason (the Five Ways). We then require faith to believe in doctrines that are ‘specially revealed’, e.g. the Trinity modern thinkers such as Richard Swinburne and Karl Rahner have defended natural theology.

•

One middle ground is the notion found in 17th- to 18th-century philosophy that reason should govern faith. Concepts such as miracles were questioned on this approach and this tended to lead to a deistic view of God.

Weaknesses of rationalism •

No one world view, including atheism, can satisfy ‘all reasonable people’.

•

Reason is not neutral. We all come to philosophy with our prior world views and assumptions.

•

It is not realistic to expect our human minds to be able to reason accurately on these complex metaphysical issues.

A compromise: faith comes first and then reason This view is similar to that of Augustine and Anselm. It is argued that human reason is fallen and only by coming to faith can it begin to be used properly. So faith can be tested rationally, but bizarrely only once one has come to faith. The famous quote from Anselm seems to sum up the position, ‘I believe in order that I may understand’.

What do you think? Is there a difference between a belief being provable and being reasonable? Which side of the argument would you put yourself on?

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Chapter 3 Get the result! Common misconceptions ‘All you need to do is to know what all the different philosophers think about each issue and be able to give your own opinion.’ Urban legends, A Level RS edition If only that were the case. It sounds plausible but Lucy’s answer to a question assessing how strong the case against miracles is reveals what is wrong with the strategy being suggested.

Lucy’s answer (Lucy has already explained Hume and Wiles in

great detail) Flew agrees with Hume that miracles cannot be disproved and agrees that we have to go with the evidence. Using a historical method, Flew says that a historian could only have direct evidence of a miracle if they were actually there when it happened. This does not happen! So we have to resort to indirect evidence. He uses analogy to suggest that what we know of the world now was likely to be true of the world then. Experience tells us that dead people stay dead and water does not become wine. These are the only conclusions that we can make based on the evidence available to us. C.S. Lewis would disagree with Flew. It is all to do with how we view the world. We are either naturalists, believing that reality is totally physical, or we are supernaturalists which means that we believe that non-physical things such as God and souls may exist. Lewis claims that certain miracles such as the resurrection of Jesus have actually occurred. If we accept the possibility of the existence of God, then we can also accept the possibility of miracles. Thinkers such as Hume and Flew are making naturalistic assumptions. Richard Swinburne also believes that miracles can occur. The laws of nature are not necessarily fixed truths; many of the scientific laws we adopt are merely statistical laws; they are averages but the individual particles in question all behave randomly. Swinburne suggests that perhaps God suspends natural laws on occasions. He compares God to a loving parent who gives a child rules. A parent may on occasions relax a certain rule in response to a child’s pleading. Swinburne also argues that miracles by their very nature have to be occasional. If miracles were more regular, life would be confusing as we would not know whether laws such as gravity were going to operate. Therefore, it is clear that miracles have not been ruled out completely by philosophers. 

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Examiner says Lucy has not assessed any of the thinkers she has presented. This is possibly implied analysis as she is implying that the thinkers in question have these arguments but it is certainly not successful or clear in its argument.

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OCR A2 Philosophy and Ethics

3 Miracle

Refresh your memory Engaging with arguments The key message of Lucy’s answer is that it is not enough to know your stuff, you have to be able to engage with it and use it in constructing an argument relevant to the question. The following table gives a number of arguments relevant to miracles. Fill in the first column saying whose argument it is and the third column showing your treatment of the argument. The first row has been completed for you. Thinker Hume

Argument/Point

Development or counterargument

Most miracle stories come from the past or from uncivilised and ignorant nations.

However, an exception to this may be the widespread belief in miracles amongst evangelicals in the USA and Britain. It is fair to suggest that there are fewer reports of miracles in modern times and modern people are less wiling to believe in the supernatural claims that miracles bring.

Those rejecting miracles do so on a naturalist prejudice. Naturalism is ultimately self-defeating. In order to weigh up the evidence, we should use the principle of analogy and consider whether such events happen today. Miracles are possible as acts of God to bring in a new regime. Jesus’ miracles are signs of the kingdom of God. Miracles are found in various different faiths. These faiths cannot all be true as they make different claims about reality. Miracles, if true, would indicate that God is arbitrary and partisan providing trivial help for some and ignoring the gross suffering of others. If there is a God, there can be miracles.

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