How would you analyse miracles?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

I would start with a preliminary definition. A miracle is: a striking and religiously significant intervention of God in the system of natural causes. Note two things here: (1) the concept of miracles presupposes, rather than sets aside, the idea that nature is a self contained system of natural causes. Unless there are regularities, there can be no exception to them. (2) A miracle is not a contradiction. A man walking through a wall is a miracle. A man both walking and not walking through a wall at the same time and in the same respect is a contradiction. God can perform miracles but not contradictions-not because His power is limited, but because contradictions are meaningless.

This analysis raises two important questions to consider regarding miracles. (1) Are miracles possible?-from the historical question-Are miracles actual? Has there ever really been such an intervention? The answer to the second question requires a knowledge of events in history. It also requires not philosophical, but historical investigation. What the believer and the philosopher can do is argue for the possibility of miracles. For nearly all those people who deny that miracles have actually happened have done so to prove that miracles cannot happen.

Obviously, you cannot believe miracles have happened without believing that a miracle worker exists. Thus all who believe in miracles believe in some kind of God. But not everyone who believes in God believes in miracles. If there is a God, miracles are possible. That is how I would analyse miracles.

Answer 2

To analyze miracles, one could consider the reported events from a scientific, historical, and psychological perspective. This might involve examining the credibility of witnesses, exploring potential natural explanations, and assessing the broader cultural or religious context in which the miracle is said to have occurred. Ultimately, the interpretation of miracles can vary depending on an individual's beliefs and worldview.

Answer 3

In Western culture, miracles are inseparably associated with Jesus, so the most direct approach would be to analyse the miracles attributed to Jesus. The most important of these is to be found in Mark's Gospel, the first New Testament gospel to be written, and most of these are also found in the later gospels. An important exception is the resurrection of Lazarus, found only in John's Gospel. Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, two wealthy friends of Jesus, is raised from the dead after three days have passed. We now know that John was inspired by Luke,with this as an excellent example of the process. In Luke,Martha and Mary are also friends of Jesus and there is a story suggesting Lazarus be raised from the dead, but it is only a parable. This was clearly the inspiration for the story in John, although it is more than just a copy of Luke's story of Lazarus.

Returning to Mark's Gospel, the best way of analysing the miracles in that gospel is to look at the framework structure of Markand identify patterns in some of the miracle stories. This takes the form of a parallel structure, a literary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first, using context and association for emphasis and to develop themes that would not otherwise be apparent. In the following summary of significant miracles and other events in the overall framework structure of Mark, we can look at the relationship of the miracle of the baptism and the miracle of the Transfiguration:
A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

Here we see an impossibly close parallel between the first group of highlighted events and the second group. In both cases, God speaks from heaven and calls Jesus his beloved son. In Mark 1:13, the story of Jesus going into the wilderness, where he was ministered by angels is an allusion to Elijah (1 Kings 19:5-7) who was ministered by an angel and in the wilderness forty days. There is no actual suggestion that Jesus fasted for this time, but those familiar with the story of Elijah are likely to have assumed he did do so, and this is made explicit in Matthew and Luke. This brings into play another allusion, to Moses when (Exodus 34:28) he fasted for 40 days while he wrote the words of the Ten Commandments on tablets. This allusion neatly mirrors the Transfiguration in which Jesus is now seen talking the the very same Old Testament characters, which creates an association that suggests in the mind of the reader that they foreshadowed the forty days of Jesus in the wilderness. Certainly there are miracles in the two groups of events, but as impossibly close parallels at just the right points in the gospel story, they are literary creations, not real, historical events. This is an analysis that can be repeated for other miracles in Mark.