(a) Outline the key concepts of miracle and examine the main reasons to believe in miracles
The world miracle derive from the Latin word ‘miror’ which means I wonder at. Miracles is a posterior and inductive argument. There are three key concepts of miracles which are it should break the law of nature, it must have purpose and significance and it should be open to religious and spiritual understanding. The definition associated with miracles comes from David Hume stating “a miracle is a transgression of a law of nature by a particular violation of the deity”.
One key concept of miracles comes from Thomas Aquinas a 13th century philosopher whom believed in a realist view of miracles and states “things that are done occasionally by divine power apart from the order generally followed in things”. He proposed three categories, the first rank which are events done by god that nature and humans can logically not do such as Jesus walking on water. The second rank are events done by god that nature could do but not in that order for example the resurrection of Jesus. The third ranks are events done by god that nature can do but god does without the use of natural laws such as the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law in the chapter of Nark in the bible. This is one of the key concepts of miracles as Aquinas ranks are consistent with religious tradition.
There are two concepts of miracles one of which is a realist view where miracles actual do have to have happened to be meaningful and the other is an anti-realist view which believes that miracles are not literally caused by God, they are symbolic.
Swinburne a realist, 2o centuries later proposed the principle of credulity and the principle of testimony becoming key reasons to believe in miracles. The principle of testimony states to believe the witnesses themselves unless deluded under the influence.
The principle of credulity states that “we ought to believe things as they seem unless one has good evidence that one is mistaken” which Swinburne illustrates further through Ockham’s Razor meaning that the ‘simplest reasons is often the most