Nature Of Miracles Research Articles

Lucretia Mott Essay Award 2021, Honourable Mention

This paper investigates the tension between Rufus Jones’ Quaker mysticism and miracles recorded in early Quakerism. It uses George Fox’s Book of Miracles to establish early Quaker beliefs and compares these recorded beliefs with Jones’ writing concerning miracles and mysticism, arguing that Jones’ conception of miracles was distinct from Fox’s. Jones often refrained from definite claims regarding the nature of miracles, but he did not claim the miracles of early Quakerism. The paper provides context for understanding distinguishing features, according to Jones, between the miraculous and the mystical.

Invitation to the New Testament: First Things by Witherington III, Ben

Reviewed by: Invitation to the New Testament: First Things by Witherington III, Ben Christoph Stenschke Witherington III, Ben. 2017. Invitation to the New Testament: First Things. 2d ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190491949. Pp. 498. $50. The list of available elementary introductions to the NT is long and varied, and instructors searching for just the right text book for their Introduction to the New Testament course are hard pressed to make the right selection. What speaks in favour of the present volume? It offers an easy to read, comprehensive and inspiring example of this genre. Witherington, a senior North American NT scholar with an impressive array of publications to his name, provides a balanced overview of the current discussion. The positions that he argues fall in the evangelical half of NT scholarship and reflect the emphases of his previous contributions to the field, for instance, his socio- rhetorical commentaries on several books of the NT. The book is divided into five parts. Part one, "Background and Foreground," starts with the "texture and text" of the NT (1–9). The author surveys the materials used and explains the use of scriptio continua in early Christian manuscripts as well as the significance of literate readers who knew the documents and were able to read them out to the whole congregation. A brief description of the oral and rhetorical world of the NT is also offered. Witherington goes on to present a survey of the literature of the NT (13–21). After emphasising that the NT constitutes a compendium, Witherington discusses the genre of the Gospels and Acts—"the Gospel writers were following the ancient biographical and historical conventions and genre of their day in writing about Jesus" (14)—and of the letters of the NT, suggesting that "the so-called letters of the New Testament owe far more to oral speech conventions than to letter-writing conventions. What 19 of the 21 so-called letters are NOT is like ordinary ancient letters" (15). Witherington also briefly discusses the genre of the Apocalypse, and suggests that, one could make the case that this final book of the New Testament sums up all the different kinds of literature that came earlier in the New Testament: It is one part story, one part history, one part visionary prophecy, one part letter, and one part exhortation or sermon—all of which are presented with the use of amazing apocalyptic images and symbolic numbers. (16) [End Page 585] He further describes the foundational story that the NT seeks to convey and explains what kind of story this is ("theological history telling," 19). For Witherington, "[t]he writers of the New Testament were saints standing on tiptoe eagerly waiting for the author of the human drama to come on stage once more and conclude the story, for they believed that the future was as bright as the promises of God" (19). Witherington goes on briefly to present Jesus in his early Jewish setting (23–39; biblical and extra-biblical evidence for the existence of Jesus, "What Manner of Man was he?"—one of the answers being that Jesus was not a peasant—and the definition and nature of miracles). The author closes with an astute discussion of the question of whether there were "lost Christianities," and of the implications of this quest. Witherington explains: "The idea that earliest Christianity was like duelling banjos when it came to basic theology and ethics is largely a myth. The arguments within the Christian movement had to do mainly with 'how shall we all live together as Jews and Gentiles united in Christ?'" (38). A separate chapter is devoted to first-century family values (41–53; the legacy of Greece and Rome and its significance for understanding the NT, and issues of social history and ordinary life, with an emphasis on dyadic or collectivist personality). Part two deals with the Gospels and Acts (57–156), while part three presents the Corpus Paulinum (157–268). This part opens with an introductory chapter on the life and letters of the apostle (173–191), where Witherington discusses Pauline chronology and the "trinity" of Paul's identity as a Roman citizen, a...

The Interpretation of Miracles according to Mutahhari and Golshani: Comparative and Critical Notes

In this essay, I scrutinize the interpretation of miracles advanced by Ayatollah Motahhari (1920-1979), the well-known Shi‘a scholar; and Mehdi Golshani (1939-), a physicist and philosopher of science. The essay begins with a presentation of their viewpoints on the nature of miracles in the light of the broader philosophical discourse on the nature of miracles. This is followed by a comparative analysis of their viewpoints with a consideration of relevant Qur’anic passages and their philosophical relevance. Finally, it concludes with a discussion of the challenges inherent to their interpretations.

Signs of God: Miracles & Their Interpretation. Mark Corner and How Much Does God Foreknow? A Comprehensive Biblical Study. Stephen C. Roy

Signs of God: Miracles & Their Interpretation. Mark Corner and How Much Does God Foreknow? A Comprehensive Biblical Study. Stephen C. Roy

Faith, Healing, and Miracles

Faith, Healing, and Miracles

God and ‘Action’

That God has acted in history has been, and usually still is, a central Christian affirmation. Its explication has been sought after in a number of ways: by investigating God's relationship to the world, by considering the nature of miracles, by poring over what might be called historiographical problems, by discussing the interrelation of divine and human wills. Each of these approaches has its own worthy place, as do several others. However, what seems to be the obvious preliminary task has often been given less generous space, and is sometimes completely neglected. For how can one use the verb ‘to act’ of God at all without first enquiring what we commonly mean when we use it in any other context? without gaining a prior understanding of what its use seems to imply and entail? This paper attempts to examine the concept of action. It does so with the conviction that such an examination will illumine our use of the concept in a theological context and that, further, it may offer hints as to the way we ought to use the word in such a context.