Probabilistic

• Paul Badham

  • Professor emeritus of theology and religion
  • Studied theology, religious studies and the philosophy of religion at Oxford
• "an answered prayer might well be explained by telepathy in a more open, but still thoroughly naturalistic, world view"- Paul Badham
• Keith Ward (1938-)

  • English philosopher and theologian
  • Fellow of the British Academy
  • Priest of CofE
  • Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, until 2003
• "It is logically possible that truly anomalous events could occur, and if they do, strictly scientific explanation will simply have to ignore them"- Divine action, 1990
• Recap on realism

  • Suggests miracles are rare or exceptional events
  • The great majority of events taking place in the world are not miracles
  • This is not the view of all religious believers
  • Some may say every event could be considered miraculous
• Anti-realism denies that we can think of a mind-independent world: the phenomena observed by our senses are interpreted by the mind
• A miracle could simply be spirit lifting or community transforming
• Any talk of God as an observable 'something' has no cognitive content, it cannot be discussed meaningfully

  • links to the Vienna Circle and logical positivists
• Anti-realists say our mind is the only means through which we understand anything, so miracles cannot be real as we cannot understand them- struggle to understand God
• No belief in the unobservable

  • For the anti-realist, there can be no commitment to unobservable things- No God
  • Cannot discuss unobservable things meaningfully, no cognitive content
• Anti-realists on miracles

  • No knowledge of the transcendent realm
  • The idea of miraculous intervention in the world by a transcendent God is not a sensible idea
• Miracles are 'in the mind'
• Mental states or attitudes are to be understood in terms of psychology and sociology
• Psychology: lifts the spirits
• Sociology: transforms a community of people
• Anti realists talk about miracles in terms of their 'state of mind': if it makes a person feel better, it is a miracle
• Paul Tillich

  • German-American
  • Christian existentialist philosopher
  • Religious Language is symbolic
• Tillich says that experience of God is not experience as an object, it is experience of life itself; an experience which gives meaning to everything else
• Miracles as sign-events- Tillich

  1. Event has to be astonishing
  2. Can't break the laws of nature
  3. Must point to the mystery of being
  4. Has to be a sign or symbol within a religious experience