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.

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
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]

Naturalistic explanations
A miracle may be false information or simply a fictional story, rather than something that truly
happened. A miracle experience may be due to cognitive errors (e.g. overthinking, jumping to
conclusions) or psychological errors (e.g. hallucinations) of witnesses. Use of some drugs such as
psychedelics (e.g. ecstasy) may produce similar effects to religious experiences.[8][9][10]

Law of truly large numbers

Statistically improbable events are sometimes called miracles. For instance, when three classmates
coincidentally meet in a different country decades after having left school, they may consider this
miraculous. However, a colossal number of events happen every moment on Earth; thus, extremely
unlikely coincidences also happen every moment. Events considered impossible are therefore not so –
they are just increasingly rare and dependent on the number of individual events. British mathematician
J. E. Littlewood suggested that individuals should statistically expect one-in-a-million events to happen
to them at the rate of about one per month. By his definition, seemingly miraculous events are actually
commonplace.

Supernatural explanations
A miracle is a phenomenon not explained by known laws of nature. The criteria for classifying an event
as a miracle vary. Often a religious text, such as the Bible or Quran, states that a miracle occurred, and
believers may accept this as fact.
Philosophical explanations

Aristotelian and Neo-Aristotelian

The Aristotelian view of God has God as pure actuality[11] and considers him as the prime mover doing
only what a perfect being can do, think.[12] Jewish neo-Aristotelian philosophers[13] who are still
influential today include Maimonides, Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon, and Gersonides. Directly or
indirectly, their views are still prevalent in much of the religious Jewish community.

Baruch Spinoza
In his Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, the philosopher Spinoza claims that miracles are merely lawlike
events of whose causes we are ignorant.[14] We should not treat them as having no cause or of having a
cause immediately available. Rather the miracle is for combating the ignorance it entails, like a political
project.

David Hume
According to the philosopher David Hume, a miracle is "a transgression of a law of nature by a
particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent".[4] The crux of his
argument is this: "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." By
Hume's definition, a miracle goes against our regular experience of how the universe works. As miracles
are single events, the evidence for them is always limited and we experience them rarely. On the basis of
experience and evidence, the probability that miracle occurred is always less than the probability that it
did not occur. As it is rational to believe what is more probable, we are not supposed to have a good
reason to believe that a miracle occurred.[15]

Friedrich Schleiermacher
According to the Christian theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher "every event, even the most natural and
usual, becomes a miracle as soon as the religious view of it can be the dominant".[16]

Søren Kierkegaard
The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, following Hume and Johann Georg Hamann, a Humean scholar,
agrees with Hume's definition of a miracle as a transgression of a law of nature,[17] but Kierkegaard,
writing as his pseudonym Johannes Climacus, regards any historical reports to be less than certain,
including historical reports of miracles, as all historical knowledge is always doubtful and open to
approximation.[18]

James Keller
James Keller states that the "claim that God has worked a miracle implies that God has singled out
certain persons for some benefit which many others do not receive implies that God is unfair."[19]

Religious views
According to a 2011 poll by the Pew Research Center, more than 90 percent of evangelical Christians
believe miracles still take place.[20] While Christians see God as sometimes intervening in human
activities, Muslims see Allah as a direct cause of all events. "God's overwhelming closeness makes it easy
for Muslims to admit the miraculous in the world."[21]

Buddhism
The Haedong Kosung-jon of Korea (Biographies of High Monks) records that King Beopheung of Silla
had desired to promulgate Buddhism as the state religion. However, officials in his court opposed him.
In the fourteenth year of his reign, Beopheung's "Grand Secretary", Ichadon, devised a strategy to
overcome court opposition. Ichadon schemed with the king, convincing him to make a proclamation
granting Buddhism official state sanction using the royal seal. Ichadon told the king to deny having
made such a proclamation when the opposing officials received it and demanded an explanation.
Instead, Ichadon would confess and accept the punishment of execution, for what would quickly be seen
as a forgery. Ichadon prophesied to the king that at his execution a wonderful miracle would convince
the opposing court faction of Buddhism's power. Ichadon's scheme went as planned, and the opposing
officials took the bait. According to legend when Ichadon was executed on the 15th day of the 9th month
in 527, his prophecy was fulfilled; the earth shook, the sun was darkened, beautiful flowers rained from
the sky, his severed head flew to the sacred Geumgang mountains, and milk instead of blood sprayed
100 feet in the air from his beheaded corpse. The omen was accepted by the opposing court officials as a
manifestation of heaven's approval, and Buddhism was made the state religion in 527 CE.[22]

The Honchō Hokke Reigenki (c. 1040) of Japan contains a collection of Buddhist miracle stories.[23]

Miracles play an important role in the veneration of Buddhist relics in Southern Asia. Thus, Somawathie
Stupa in Sri Lanka is an increasingly popular site of pilgrimage and tourist destination thanks to
multiple reports about miraculous rays of light, apparitions and modern legends, which often have been
fixed in photographs and movies.

Christianity
The gospels record three sorts of miracles performed by
Jesus: exorcisms, cures, and natural wonders.[24] In the
Gospel of John, the miracles are referred to as "signs"
and the emphasis is on God demonstrating his
underlying normal activity in remarkable ways.[25] In the
New Testament, the greatest miracle is the resurrection
of Jesus, the event central to Christian faith.

Jesus explains in the New Testament that miracles are

performed by faith in God. "If you have faith as small as a
mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'move from
here to there' and it will move." (Gospel of Matthew
The Miracle of the Slave, a 1548 painting by
17:20). After Jesus returned to heaven, the Book of Acts Tintoretto, from the Gallerie dell'Accademia in
records the disciples of Jesus praying to God to grant that Venice. It portrays an episode of the life of Saint
miracles be done in his name for the purpose of Mark, patron saint of Venice, taken from Jacobus
convincing onlookers that he is alive. (Acts 4:29–31). de Voragine's Golden Legend. The scene shows
a saint intervening to make a slave who is about
Other passages mention false prophets who will be able to be martyred invulnerable.
to perform miracles to deceive "if possible, even the elect
of Christ" (Matthew 24:24). 2 Thessalonians 2:9 says,
"And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of
Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in
them that perish; because they received not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved." Revelation
13:13,14 says, "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth
in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he
had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make
an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." Revelation 16:14 says, "For they
are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole
world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Revelation 19:20 says, "And the
beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he
deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both
were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." These passages indicate that signs, wonders,
and miracles are not necessarily committed by God. These miracles not committed by God are labeled as
false(pseudo) miracles though which could mean that they are deceptive in nature and are not the same
as the true miracles committed by God.

In early Christianity miracles were the most often attested motivations for conversions of pagans; pagan
Romans took the existence of miracles for granted; Christian texts reporting them offered miracles as
divine proof of the Christian God's unique claim to authority, relegating all other gods to the lower
status of daimones:[26] "of all worships, the Christian best and most particularly advertised its miracles
by driving out of spirits and laying on of hands".[27] The Gospel of John is structured around miraculous
"signs": The success of the Apostles according to the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea lay in their
miracles: "though laymen in their language", he asserted, "they drew courage from divine, miraculous
powers".[28] The conversion of Constantine by a miraculous sign in heaven is a prominent fourth-
century example.

Since the Age of Enlightenment, miracles have often needed to be rationalized: C.S. Lewis, Norman
Geisler, William Lane Craig, and other 20th-century Christians have argued that miracles are reasonable
and plausible. For example, Lewis said that a miracle is something that comes totally out of the blue. If
for thousands of years a woman can become pregnant only by sexual intercourse with a man, then if she
were to become pregnant without a man, it would be a miracle.[29][30][31] Others argue that Jesus's
healing miracles dealt with conversion and somatization disorders, could manifest as blindness,
paralysis etc.[32] In a Mediterranean context, healing was also defined as restoring a person's social
standing. Some diseases, like leprosy, caused immense social stigma.[33] Modern Christians believe that
Biblical miracles could be replicated with nanotechnology.[34]

There have been numerous claims of miracles by people of most Christian denominations, including but
not limited to faith healings and exorcisms. Miracle reports are especially prevalent in Roman
Catholicism and Pentecostal or Charismatic churches.

Catholic Church
The Catholic Church believes miracles are works of God, either directly, or through the prayers and
intercessions of a specific saint or saints. There is usually a specific purpose connected to a miracle, e.g.
the conversion of a person or persons to the Catholic faith or the construction of a church desired by
God. The church says that it tries to be very cautious to approve the validity of putative miracles. The
Catholic Church also says that it maintains particularly stringent requirements in validating the
miracle's authenticity.[35] The process is overseen by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.[36]

The Catholic Church has listed several events as miracles, some of them occurring in modern times.
Before a person can be accepted as a saint, they must be posthumously confirmed to have performed
two miracles. In the procedure of beatification of Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, the Vatican
announced on 14 January 2011 that Pope Benedict XVI had confirmed that the recovery of Marie Simon-
Pierre from Parkinson's disease was a miracle.[37]

Among the more notable miracles approved by the church are several Eucharistic miracles wherein the
sacramental species of bread and wine attain the accidents of human flesh and blood. Prominent
examples are the Miracle of Lanciano and of Santarém.

According to 17th century documents, a young Spanish man's leg was miraculously restored to him in
1640 after having been amputated two and a half years earlier.[38]

Another miracle approved by the church is the Miracle of the Sun, which is said to have occurred near
Fátima, Portugal on October 13, 1917. According to legend, between 70,000 and 100,000 people, who
were gathered at a cove near Fátima, witnessed the sunlight dim and change colors, and the Sun spin,
dance about in the sky, and appear to plummet towards Earth, radiating great heat in the process. After
the ten-minute event, the ground and the people's clothing, which had been drenched by a previous
rainstorm, were both dry.

Velankanni (Mary) can be traced to the mid-16th century and is attributed to three miracles: the
apparition of Mary and the Christ Child to a slumbering shepherd boy, the curing of a lame buttermilk
vendor, and the rescue of Portuguese sailors from a violent sea storm.[39]

In addition to these, the Catholic Church attributes miraculous causes to many otherwise inexplicable
phenomena on a case-by-case basis. Only after all other possible explanations have been asserted to be
inadequate will the church assume divine intervention and declare the miracle worthy of veneration by
their followers. The church does not, however, enjoin belief in any extra-Scriptural miracle as an article
of faith or as necessary for salvation.

Thomas Aquinas, a prominent Doctor of the Church, divided miracles into three types in his Summa
contra Gentiles:

Things that are at times divinely accomplished, apart from the generally established order in
things, are customarily called miracles; for we admire with some astonishment a certain
event when we observe the effect but do not know its cause. And since one and the same
cause is at times known to some people and unknown to others, the result is that of several
who see an effect at the same time, some are moved to admiring astonishment, while others
are not. For instance, the astronomer is not astonished when he sees an eclipse of the sun,
for he knows its cause, but the person who is ignorant of this science must be amazed, for he
ignores the cause. And so, a certain event is wondrous to one person, but not so to another.
So, a thing that has a completely hidden cause is wondrous in an unqualified way, and this
the name, miracle, suggests; namely, what is of itself filled with admirable wonder, not
simply in relation to one person or another. Now, absolutely speaking, the cause hidden from
every man is God. In fact, we proved above that no man in the present state of life can grasp
His essence intellectually. Therefore, those things must properly be called miraculous which
are done by divine power apart from the order generally followed in things.

Now, there are various degrees and orders of these miracles. Indeed, the highest rank among
miracles is held by those events in which something is done by God which nature never could
do. For example, that two bodies should be coincident; that the sun reverse its course, or
stand still; that the sea open up and offer a way through which people may pass. And even
among these an order may be observed. For the greater the things that God does are, and the
more they are removed from the capacity of nature, the greater the miracle is. Thus, it is
more miraculous for the sun to reverse its course than for the sea to be divided.
 Then, the second degree among miracles is held by those events in which God does
something which nature can do, but not in this order. It is a work of nature for an animal to
live, to see, and to walk; but for it to live after death, to see after becoming blind, to walk after
paralysis of the limbs, this nature cannot do—but God at times does such works
miraculously. Even among this degree of miracles a gradation is evident, according as what is
done is more removed from the capacity of nature.

Now, the third degree of miracles occurs when God does what is usually done by the working
of nature, but without the operation of the principles of nature. For example, a person may
be cured by divine power from a fever which could be cured naturally, and it may rain
independently of the working of the principles of nature.[40]

Evangelicalism
For a majority of Evangelical Christians, biblicism ensures that the miracles described in the Bible are
still relevant and may be present in the life of the believer.[41][42] Healings, academic or professional
successes, the birth of a child after several attempts, the end of an addiction, etc., would be tangible
examples of God's intervention with the faith and prayer, by the Holy Spirit.[43] In the 1980s, the neo-
charismatic movement re-emphasized miracles and faith healing.[44] In certain churches, a special place
is thus reserved for faith healings with laying on of hands during worship services or for campaigns
evangelization.[45][46] Faith healing or divine healing is considered to be an inheritance of Jesus
acquired by his death and resurrection.[47]

Hinduism
In Hinduism, miracles are focused on episodes of liberation of the spirit.[48] A key example is the
revelation of Krishna to Arjuna, wherein Krishna persuades Arjuna to rejoin the battle against his
cousins by briefly and miraculously giving Arjuna the power to see the true scope of the Universe, and its
sustainment within Krishna, which requires divine vision. This is a typical situation in Hindu mythology
wherein "wondrous acts are performed for the purpose of bringing spiritual liberation to those who
witness or read about them."[48]

Hindu sages have criticized both expectation and reliance on miracles as cheats, situations where people
have sought to earn a benefit without doing the work necessary to merit it.[48] Miracles continue to be
occasionally reported in the practice of Hinduism, with an example of a miracle modernly reported in
Hinduism being the Hindu milk miracle of September 1995, with additional occurrences in 2006 and
2010, wherein statues of certain Hindu deities were seen to drink milk offered to them. The scientific
explanation for the incident, attested by Indian academics, was that the material was wicked from the
offering bowls by capillary action.

Islam
In the Quran, a miracle can be defined as a supernatural intervention in the life of human beings.[49]
According to this definition, miracles are present "in a threefold sense: in sacred history, in connection
with Muhammad himself and in relation to revelation".[49] The Quran does not use the technical Arabic
word for miracle (Muʿd̲j̲iza) literally meaning "that by means of which [the Prophet] confounds,
overwhelms, his opponents". It rather uses the term 'Ayah' (literally meaning sign).[50] The term Ayah is
used in the Quran in the above-mentioned threefold sense: it refers to the "verses" of the Quran
(believed to be the divine speech in human language; presented by Muhammad as his chief miracle); as
well as to miracles of it and the signs (particularly those of creation).[49][50]

To defend the possibility of miracles and God's omnipotence against the encroachment of the
independent secondary causes, some medieval Muslim theologians such as Al-Ghazali rejected the idea
of cause and effect in essence, but accepted it as something that facilitates humankind's investigation
and comprehension of natural processes. They argued that the nature was composed of uniform atoms
that were "re-created" at every instant by God. Thus, if the soil was to fall, God would have to create and
re-create the accident of heaviness for as long as the soil was to fall. For Muslim theologians, the laws of
nature were only the customary sequence of apparent causes: customs of God.[51]

Sufi biographical literature records claims of miraculous accounts of men and women. The miraculous
prowess of the Sufi holy men includes firasa (clairvoyance), the ability to disappear from sight, to
become completely invisible and practice buruz (exteriorization). The holy men reportedly tame wild
beasts and traverse long distances in a very short time span. They could also produce food and rain in
seasons of drought, heal the sick and help barren women conceive.[52][53]

Judaism
Descriptions of miracles (Hebrew Ness, ‫ )נס‬appear in the Tanakh. Examples include prophets, such as
Elijah who performed miracles like the raising of a widow's dead son (1 Kings 17:17–24) and Elisha
whose miracles include multiplying the poor widow's jar of oil (2 Kings 4:1–7) and restoring to life the
son of the woman of Shunem (2 Kings 4:18–37). The Torah describes many miracles related to Moses
during his time as a prophet and the Exodus of the Israelites. Parting the Red Sea, and facilitating the
Plagues of Egypt are among the most famous.

During the first century BCE, a variety of religious movements and splinter groups developed amongst
the Jews in Judea. A number of individuals claimed to be miracle workers in the tradition of Moses,
Elijah, and Elisha, the Jewish prophets. The Talmud provides some examples of such Jewish miracle
workers, one of whom is Honi HaM'agel, who was famous for his ability to successfully pray for rain.[54]

There are people who obscure all miracles by explaining them in terms of the laws of nature.
When these heretics who do not believe in miracles disappear and faith increases in the world,
then the Mashiach will come. For the essence of the Redemption primarily depends on this –
that is, on faith[55]

— Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Most Chasidic communities are rife with tales of miracles that follow a yechidut, a spiritual audience
with a tzadik: barren women become pregnant, cancer tumors shrink, wayward children become pious.
[56] Many Hasidim claim that miracles can take place in merit of partaking of the shirayim (the leftovers

from the rebbe's meal), such as miraculous healing or blessings of wealth or piety.

Criticism
Thomas Paine, one of the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution, wrote "All the tales of miracles,
with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for impostors to preach and fools to
believe."[57]

Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, edited a
version of the Bible in which he removed sections of the New Testament containing supernatural aspects
as well as perceived misinterpretations he believed had been added by the Four Evangelists.[58][59]
Jefferson wrote, "The establishment of the innocent and genuine
character of this benevolent moralist, and the rescuing it from the
imputation of imposture, which has resulted from artificial systems,
[footnote: e.g. The immaculate conception of Jesus, his deification,
the creation of the world by him, his miraculous powers, his
resurrection and visible ascension, his corporeal presence in the
Eucharist, the Trinity; original sin, atonement, regeneration,
election, orders of Hierarchy, etc. —T.J.] invented by ultra-Christian
sects, unauthorized by a single word ever uttered by him, is a most
Rationalist, sceptic, and godman
desirable object, and one to which Priestley has successfully devoted debunker Narendra Nayak during a
his labors and learning."[60] miracle-exposure program in 2007.

American Revolutionary War patriot Ethan Allen wrote, "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."[61]

Robert Ingersoll wrote, "Not 20 people were convinced by the reported miracles of Christ, and yet
people of the nineteenth century were coolly asked to be convinced on hearsay by miracles which those
who are supposed to have seen them refused to credit."[62]

Elbert Hubbard, American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher, wrote "A miracle is an event
described by those to whom it was told by people who did not see it."[63]

Biologist Richard Dawkins has criticised the belief in miracles as a subversion of Occam's razor.[64]

Mathematician Charles Hermite, in a discourse upon the world of mathematical truths and the physical
world, stated that "The synthesis of the two is revealed partially in the marvellous correspondence
between abstract mathematics on the one hand and all the branches of physics on the other".[65]

Baden Powell, an English mathematician and Church of England priest, stated that if God is a lawgiver,
then a "miracle" would break the lawful edicts that had been issued at Creation. Therefore, a belief in
miracles would be entirely atheistic.[66]

See also
▪ A Course in Miracles – 1976 book by Helen
Schucman
▪ Act of God – Natural disaster outside human
control, for which no person is at fault
▪ Cessationism – Christian theological dispute
▪ Deus ex machina – Contrived device to resolve
the plot of a dramatic work
▪ Lourdes effect – Skeptical theory regarding the
ambiguity of miracles
▪ Magic and religion
▪ Miracles (book) – Book written by C. S. Lewis
▪ Miracles of Joseph Smith – aspect of history
▪ Natural Supernaturalism – Philosophical
concept developed by Thomas Carlyle
▪ Our Lady of Lourdes – A title of Mary, mother
of Jesus
▪ Our Lady of Medjugorje – Alleged visions of
Mary, mother of Jesus
▪ Paranormal – Purported phenomena beyond
the scope of normal scientific understanding
▪ Pieter De Rudder – Lourdes miracle
(1822-1898)
▪ Relic – Object of religious significance from the
past
▪ Royal touch – Healing power supposedly
possessed by monarchs
▪ Scientific skepticism – Questioning of claims
lacking empirical evidence
▪ Signs and wonders – Experiences that are
perceived to be miraculous
▪ Snake oil – Euphemism for false advertising
 ▪ Spontaneous remission – Diminution or ▪ Superstitions in Muslim societies – Folk belief
abatement of a disease over time, without in Islam
formal treatment ("medical miracles")

Notes and references

1. Jenny Schroedel; John Schroedel (2006). The Everything Mary Book: The Life and Legacy of the
Blessed Mother. pp. 137–38. ISBN 1-59337-713-4.
2. One dictionary defines "Miracle" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140727005539/http://www.oxforddic
tionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/miracle?q=miracle) as: "A surprising and welcome
event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of
a divine agency."
3. Halbersam, Yitta (1890). Small Miracles. Adams Media. ISBN 1-55850-646-2.
4. Miracles (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/miracles/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20191122
025733/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/miracles/) 2019-11-22 at the Wayback Machine on the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
5. Grudem, Wayne (1994). Systematic Theology.
6. "Deists Believe in One God Who is Impersonal" (https://www.thoughtco.com/deism-95703). Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20171013224933/https://www.thoughtco.com/deism-95703) from the
original on 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
7. "Definition of Miracles" (https://bible.org/illustration/definition-miracles). Bible.org. Archived (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20171201034813/https://bible.org/illustration/definition-miracles) from the
original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
8. "The Salvia divinorum FAQ" (http://www.sagewisdom.org/faq.html). SageWisdom.org. July 30, 2012.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20010816113130/http://www.sagewisdom.org/faq.html) from
the original on August 16, 2001. Retrieved August 26, 2007. "Those who think of the salvia
experience in religious, spiritual, or mystical terms may speak of such things as enlightenment,
satori, and "cleansing the doors of perception." "
9. Adamson, Sophia; Metzner, Ralph. "The Nature of the MDMA Experience and Its Role in Healing,
Psychotherapy, and Spiritual Practice" (http://www.maps.org/research-archive/mdma/revision.html).
maps.org. MAPS. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20181010061017/http://www.maps.org/rese
arch-archive/mdma/revision.html) from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 16 December
2018.
10. Watts, Alan (January 1968). "Psychedelics and Religious Experience" (https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/re
cord/1110164). California Law Review. 56 (1): 74–85. doi:10.2307/3479497 (https://doi.org/10.230
7%2F3479497). JSTOR 3479497 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3479497). Archived (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20221221085344/https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/1110164) from the original on
2022-12-21. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
11. Adamson, Peter. "The Theology of Aristotle" (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/theology-aristotle/).
stanford.edu. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20180611162132/https://plato.stanford.edu/entri
es/theology-aristotle/) from the original on 11 June 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
12. "Aristotle on the Existence of God" (http://www.logicmuseum.com/ontological/aristotleontological.ht
m). logicmuseum.com. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140131212318/http://www.logicmus
eum.com/ontological/aristotleontological.htm) from the original on 31 January 2014. Retrieved
31 July 2018.
13. Afterman, A. (2016). 'And They Shall Be One Flesh': On The Language of Mystical Union in Judaism
(https://books.google.com/books?id=FOEzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA102). Supplements to The Journal of
Jewish Thought and Philosophy. Brill. p. 102. ISBN 978-90-04-32873-0. Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20230630130753/https://books.google.com/books?id=FOEzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA102)
from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
14. Benedictus de Spinoza. "Chapter 6: Of Miracles". Thelogico-Political Treatise (https://en.wikisourc
e.org/wiki/Theologico-Political_Treatise_1862/Chapter_6). translated by Robert Willis. Archived (http
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General references and books

▪ Brown, Colin. Miracles and the Critical Mind. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984.
▪ Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James (1991). Darwin. London: Michael Joseph, Penguin Group.
ISBN 0-7181-3430-3.
▪ Chavda, Mahesh. Only Love Can Make a Miracle. Charlotte: Mahesh Chavda Ministries, 1990.
▪ Bontrager, Krista, "It's a Miracle! Or, is it?", Reasons.org (http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologet
ics/its_a_miracle.shtml?main#_edn8) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20060207104000/http://
www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/its_a_miracle.shtml?main#_edn8) 2006-02-07 at the
Wayback Machine
▪ Eisen, Robert (1995). Gersonides on Providence, Covenant, and the Chosen People. State
University of New York Press.
▪ Goodman, Lenn E. (1985). Rambam: Readings in the Philosophy of Moses Maimonides. Gee Bee
Tee.
▪ Humphreys, Colin J. Miracles of Exodus. Harper, San Francisco, 2003.
▪ Kellner, Menachem (1986). Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought. Oxford University Press.
▪ Lewis, C.S. Miracles: A Preliminary Study. New York, Macmillan Co., 1947.
▪ Moule, C. F. D. (ed.). Miracles: Cambridge Studies in their Philosophy and History. London, A.R.
Mowbray 1966, ©1965 (Survey of Biblical miracles as well).
▪ Twelftree, Graham. Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical and Theological Study. IVP, 1999.
▪ Woodward, Kenneth L. (2000). The Book of Miracles. New York: Simon & Schuster.
ISBN 0684823934.
▪ Keener, Craig S. (2011). Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0801039522. OCLC 699760418 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6997
60418).

Further reading
▪ 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 ISBN 978-0199367412
▪ Houdini, Harry Miracle Mongers and Their Methods: A Complete Expose Prometheus Books;
Reprint edition (1993) originally published in 1920 ISBN 0-87975-817-1.
▪ Robert Knapp The Dawn of Christianity: People and Gods in a Time of Magic and Miracles, Profile
books, Great Britain, 2017 ISBN 978-1781252079
▪ Marvin Meyer and Richard Smith Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power Princeton
University Press, 1999
▪ D. Michaelides (editor) Medicine and Healing in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Oxbow Books,
2014
▪ Joe Nickell Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions & Healing Cures,
Prometheus Books, 1997
▪ William A. Nolen Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle, Random House, 1975
▪ Roy Porter The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity, W.W. Norton & Co.,
1997
▪ James Randi The Faith Healers, Prometheus Books, 1987
▪ Matthew Rowley and Natasha Hodgson (eds), Miracles, Political Authority and Violence in Medieval
and Early Modern History. London, Routledge, 2022
▪ Andrew Dickson White (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.
▪ Rory Roybal Miracles or Magic? (http://www.miraclesormagic.com). Xulon Press, 2005.
▪ Graves, Wilfred (2007). Popular and elite understandings of miracles in enlightened England. A
dissertation submitted to the Center for Advanced Theological Studies in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=fWP3XxG
ZAw0C). Pasadena, CA: Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Theology. ISBN 9780549274575.

External links
▪ Miracles (http://www.iep.utm.edu/miracles/) article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
▪ Skepdic.com (http://www.skepdic.com/miracles.html), Skeptic's Dictionary on miracles
▪ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Miracle" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_
(1913)/Miracle). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
▪ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Miracle" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_B
ritannica/Miracle). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
▪ "Miracle (http://www.disf.org/en/Voci/86.asp)" in the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and
Science.
▪ The history of thinking about miracles in the West (http://sma.org/southern-medical-journal/article/th
e-history-of-thinking-about-miracles-in-the-west/)
▪ Mukto-mona.com (http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/yuktibaadi.htm), an Indian Skeptic's
explanation of miracles: By Yuktibaadi, compiled by Basava Premanand
▪ Andrew Lang, Psychanalyse-paris.com (http://www.psychanalyse-paris.com/823-Science-and-Miracl
es.html), "Science and 'Miracles'", The Making of Religion Chapter II, Longmans, Green, and Co.,
London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 14–38.
▪ 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]
(http://www.livingbooksabouthistory.ch/en/)
▪ Hume on Miracles (https://web.archive.org/web/20170320215642/http://documents.routledge-interac
tive.s3.amazonaws.com/9781138793934/A2/Hume/HumeMiracles.pdf)