Colin Howson
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198250371
- eISBN:
- 9780191597749
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198250371.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This book is an extended discussion of Hume's famous sceptical argument that we have no reason to believe that the future will resemble the past. In the context of scientific methodology, this ...
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This book is an extended discussion of Hume's famous sceptical argument that we have no reason to believe that the future will resemble the past. In the context of scientific methodology, this implies that however stringent the process of experimentation, the data supplied does not in itself support any one general hypothesis over another. There have been many attempts since Hume published this argument to show that it is mistaken, or that it itself begs the question. These attempts, which fall under the various headings of probabilism, reliabilism, deductivism, the No‐Miracles argument, and naturalism, are examined and are all found to be wanting. It is then argued that Hume's argument is sound, but that conceding this does not show that there are no valid inductive inferences. The final sections of the book are devoted to showing that there are such arguments, namely probabilistically valid arguments, whose premises are assignments of prior probability. Such arguments are clearly conditional, like those of deductive logic, their conclusions depending on the premises. Indeed, this book argues that the laws of probability are as authentically logical principles as those of deductive logic, mediating like them non‐ampliative inferences from premises to conclusion. Hume's position, that all inductive arguments depend on assumptions about the likely course of nature, is endorsed, since these assumptions can be identified with the prior probability assignments. Thus, though Hume was correct, there is nevertheless room for a genuine logic of inductive inference, supplied by the laws of probability.Less
This book is an extended discussion of Hume's famous sceptical argument that we have no reason to believe that the future will resemble the past. In the context of scientific methodology, this implies that however stringent the process of experimentation, the data supplied does not in itself support any one general hypothesis over another. There have been many attempts since Hume published this argument to show that it is mistaken, or that it itself begs the question. These attempts, which fall under the various headings of probabilism, reliabilism, deductivism, the No‐Miracles argument, and naturalism, are examined and are all found to be wanting. It is then argued that Hume's argument is sound, but that conceding this does not show that there are no valid inductive inferences. The final sections of the book are devoted to showing that there are such arguments, namely probabilistically valid arguments, whose premises are assignments of prior probability. Such arguments are clearly conditional, like those of deductive logic, their conclusions depending on the premises. Indeed, this book argues that the laws of probability are as authentically logical principles as those of deductive logic, mediating like them non‐ampliative inferences from premises to conclusion. Hume's position, that all inductive arguments depend on assumptions about the likely course of nature, is endorsed, since these assumptions can be identified with the prior probability assignments. Thus, though Hume was correct, there is nevertheless room for a genuine logic of inductive inference, supplied by the laws of probability.
Michael Ward
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195313871
- eISBN:
- 9780199871964
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313871.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
The problem of occasion: why did Lewis write the Chronicles of Narnia? Writing was always the way to freedom for him, and the debate about Naturalism with Elizabeth Anscombe at the Socratic Club ...
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The problem of occasion: why did Lewis write the Chronicles of Narnia? Writing was always the way to freedom for him, and the debate about Naturalism with Elizabeth Anscombe at the Socratic Club caused him difficulties which may have required mental and imaginative liberation. In Miracles, his defence of Idealism, he had argued that human reason was monarchical and that Naturalists preferred to live in a democratic universe. In part, the first Narnia Chronicle was written to demonstrate the same case imaginatively as he had made propositionally in his apologetics.Less
The problem of occasion: why did Lewis write the Chronicles of Narnia? Writing was always the way to freedom for him, and the debate about Naturalism with Elizabeth Anscombe at the Socratic Club caused him difficulties which may have required mental and imaginative liberation. In Miracles, his defence of Idealism, he had argued that human reason was monarchical and that Naturalists preferred to live in a democratic universe. In part, the first Narnia Chronicle was written to demonstrate the same case imaginatively as he had made propositionally in his apologetics.
Larry Shapiro
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231178402
- eISBN:
- 9780231542142
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231178402.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
There are many who believe Moses parted the Red Sea and Jesus came back from the dead. Others are certain that exorcisms occur, ghosts haunt attics, and the blessed can cure the terminally ill. ...
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There are many who believe Moses parted the Red Sea and Jesus came back from the dead. Others are certain that exorcisms occur, ghosts haunt attics, and the blessed can cure the terminally ill. Though miracles are immensely improbable, people have embraced them for millennia, seeing in them proof of a supernatural world that resists scientific explanation.
Helping us to think more critically about our belief in the improbable, The Miracle Myth casts a skeptical eye on attempts to justify belief in the supernatural, laying bare the fallacies that such attempts commit. Through arguments and accessible analysis, Larry Shapiro sharpens our critical faculties so we become less susceptible to tales of myths and miracles and learn how, ultimately, to evaluate claims regarding vastly improbable events on our own. Shapiro acknowledges that belief in miracles could be harmless, but cautions against allowing such beliefs to guide how we live our lives. His investigation reminds us of the importance of evidence and rational thinking as we explore the unknown.Less
There are many who believe Moses parted the Red Sea and Jesus came back from the dead. Others are certain that exorcisms occur, ghosts haunt attics, and the blessed can cure the terminally ill. Though miracles are immensely improbable, people have embraced them for millennia, seeing in them proof of a supernatural world that resists scientific explanation.
Helping us to think more critically about our belief in the improbable, The Miracle Myth casts a skeptical eye on attempts to justify belief in the supernatural, laying bare the fallacies that such attempts commit. Through arguments and accessible analysis, Larry Shapiro sharpens our critical faculties so we become less susceptible to tales of myths and miracles and learn how, ultimately, to evaluate claims regarding vastly improbable events on our own. Shapiro acknowledges that belief in miracles could be harmless, but cautions against allowing such beliefs to guide how we live our lives. His investigation reminds us of the importance of evidence and rational thinking as we explore the unknown.
Christopher Bryan
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195183344
- eISBN:
- 9780199835584
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195183347.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Jesus appeared as a prophet, proclaiming the Kingdom (Sovereignty) of God. As regards foreign rule over Israel, he stood within the biblical and prophetic tradition and seems to have accepted the ...
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Jesus appeared as a prophet, proclaiming the Kingdom (Sovereignty) of God. As regards foreign rule over Israel, he stood within the biblical and prophetic tradition and seems to have accepted the second option noted in chapter 2: he accepted such rule but challenged rulers to remember why they held power and to whom they were answerable. Thus he is delighted when Zacchaeus the tax collector reforms, but does not suggest Zacchaeus stop working for Rome. He regards payment of Caesar’s head-tax as “permitted.” He accepts the faith of the centurion, described in terms of the latter’s service to imperial authority. Jesus is nowhere portrayed as attacking the imperial system. There is no evidence that his healing miracles symbolized the overthrow of Rome.Less
Jesus appeared as a prophet, proclaiming the Kingdom (Sovereignty) of God. As regards foreign rule over Israel, he stood within the biblical and prophetic tradition and seems to have accepted the second option noted in chapter 2: he accepted such rule but challenged rulers to remember why they held power and to whom they were answerable. Thus he is delighted when Zacchaeus the tax collector reforms, but does not suggest Zacchaeus stop working for Rome. He regards payment of Caesar’s head-tax as “permitted.” He accepts the faith of the centurion, described in terms of the latter’s service to imperial authority. Jesus is nowhere portrayed as attacking the imperial system. There is no evidence that his healing miracles symbolized the overthrow of Rome.
Michael Peppard
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300213997
- eISBN:
- 9780300216516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300213997.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter first combines two upper-panel scenes thought to represent Jesus Christ with a third over the font: the walking on the water with Simon Peter; the healing of a paralytic; and the ...
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This chapter first combines two upper-panel scenes thought to represent Jesus Christ with a third over the font: the walking on the water with Simon Peter; the healing of a paralytic; and the shepherd with a flock of sheep. The scene of the walking on the water shows Peter as an ideal disciple who imitates the divine power of Christ. Jesus’ reputation as a healer was widespread in antiquity, but in Syria it was even more of a focus, with “Healer” and “Physician” as prevalent titles for Christ there. Turning to the font itself, the painting on the western wall portrays a shepherd watering his flock, which recalls David as shepherd, Christ the Good Shepherd, and the foundational Psalm 23. The large number of sheep in the flock signifies the communal aspect of Christian initiation, the incorporation of a “sealed” individual into a community protected from enemies by the name of Christ.Less
This chapter first combines two upper-panel scenes thought to represent Jesus Christ with a third over the font: the walking on the water with Simon Peter; the healing of a paralytic; and the shepherd with a flock of sheep. The scene of the walking on the water shows Peter as an ideal disciple who imitates the divine power of Christ. Jesus’ reputation as a healer was widespread in antiquity, but in Syria it was even more of a focus, with “Healer” and “Physician” as prevalent titles for Christ there. Turning to the font itself, the painting on the western wall portrays a shepherd watering his flock, which recalls David as shepherd, Christ the Good Shepherd, and the foundational Psalm 23. The large number of sheep in the flock signifies the communal aspect of Christian initiation, the incorporation of a “sealed” individual into a community protected from enemies by the name of Christ.
M. D Litwa
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780300242638
- eISBN:
- 9780300249484
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300242638.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The purpose of this book is to show why and how (what later became) the four canonical gospels take on a historical cast, a history-like “feel” that remains vitally important for many Christians ...
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The purpose of this book is to show why and how (what later became) the four canonical gospels take on a historical cast, a history-like “feel” that remains vitally important for many Christians today. This aim is worked out by in-depth comparisons with other Greco-Roman stories that have been made to seem like history (mythic historiography). Instead of using these comparisons to justify genetic links between texts, Litwa uses them to show how the evangelists dynamically interacted with Greco-Roman literary culture, felt the pressures of its structures of plausibility, and responded by using well-known historiographical tropes. These include the mention of famous rulers and kings, geographical notices, the introduction of eyewitnesses, vivid presentation, alternative reports, staged skepticism, and so on. This study is the most sustained and thorough comparison of the gospels and Greco-Roman mythology (not just Homer and Euripides) of the past fifty years. Its innovation is to show that the gospels were not perceived as myths (or mythoi), but as histories (records of actual events).Less
The purpose of this book is to show why and how (what later became) the four canonical gospels take on a historical cast, a history-like “feel” that remains vitally important for many Christians today. This aim is worked out by in-depth comparisons with other Greco-Roman stories that have been made to seem like history (mythic historiography). Instead of using these comparisons to justify genetic links between texts, Litwa uses them to show how the evangelists dynamically interacted with Greco-Roman literary culture, felt the pressures of its structures of plausibility, and responded by using well-known historiographical tropes. These include the mention of famous rulers and kings, geographical notices, the introduction of eyewitnesses, vivid presentation, alternative reports, staged skepticism, and so on. This study is the most sustained and thorough comparison of the gospels and Greco-Roman mythology (not just Homer and Euripides) of the past fifty years. Its innovation is to show that the gospels were not perceived as myths (or mythoi), but as histories (records of actual events).
Ann Taves
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691131016
- eISBN:
- 9781400884469
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691131016.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Unseen presences. Apparitions. Hearing voices. Although some people would find such experiences to be distressing and seek clinical help, others perceive them as transformative. Occasionally, these ...
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Unseen presences. Apparitions. Hearing voices. Although some people would find such experiences to be distressing and seek clinical help, others perceive them as transformative. Occasionally, these unusual phenomena give rise to new spiritual paths or religious movements. This book provides fresh insights into what is perhaps the bedrock of all religious belief—the claim that otherworldly powers are active in human affairs. The book looks at Mormonism, Alcoholics Anonymous, and A Course in Miracles—three cases in which insiders claimed that a spiritual presence guided the emergence of a new spiritual path. In the 1820s, Joseph Smith, Jr. reportedly translated the Book of Mormon from ancient gold plates unearthed with the help of an angel. Bill Wilson cofounded AA after having an ecstatic experience while hospitalized for alcoholism in 1934. Helen Schucman scribed the words of an inner voice that she attributed to Jesus, which formed the basis of her 1976 best-selling self-study course. In each case, the book argues, the sense of a guiding presence emerged through a complex, creative interaction between a founding figure with unusual mental abilities and an initial set of collaborators who were drawn into the process by diverse motives of their own. This book traces the very human processes behind such events.Less
Unseen presences. Apparitions. Hearing voices. Although some people would find such experiences to be distressing and seek clinical help, others perceive them as transformative. Occasionally, these unusual phenomena give rise to new spiritual paths or religious movements. This book provides fresh insights into what is perhaps the bedrock of all religious belief—the claim that otherworldly powers are active in human affairs. The book looks at Mormonism, Alcoholics Anonymous, and A Course in Miracles—three cases in which insiders claimed that a spiritual presence guided the emergence of a new spiritual path. In the 1820s, Joseph Smith, Jr. reportedly translated the Book of Mormon from ancient gold plates unearthed with the help of an angel. Bill Wilson cofounded AA after having an ecstatic experience while hospitalized for alcoholism in 1934. Helen Schucman scribed the words of an inner voice that she attributed to Jesus, which formed the basis of her 1976 best-selling self-study course. In each case, the book argues, the sense of a guiding presence emerged through a complex, creative interaction between a founding figure with unusual mental abilities and an initial set of collaborators who were drawn into the process by diverse motives of their own. This book traces the very human processes behind such events.
Ian Richard Netton
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780748699063
- eISBN:
- 9781474460248
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748699063.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
What is a miracle? Who believes in their possibility? What is the historical context within which they emerge?These and related questions have vexed, puzzled and, indeed, enthused scholars and ...
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What is a miracle? Who believes in their possibility? What is the historical context within which they emerge?These and related questions have vexed, puzzled and, indeed, enthused scholars and believers, atheists and non-believers alike down the ages.This book examines this perennially fascinating subject of miracles with a comparative focus on two of the world’s great monotheistic religions, Islam and Christianity. Other texts have often approached the subject from a strictly theological, faith or, alternatively, rationalistic, perspective and made it their concern to prove or disprove the possibility of an alleged miraculous event. The approach adopted in this volume is quite different. It is strictly anthropological and phenomenological and the miracles are viewed in a new and dynamic fashion through the lens of narratology. The book examines the stories behind these miracles, the contexts which gave rise to them and allowed them to garner belief and flourish. Perspectives covered include the views of believers and non-believers alike in these phenomena. Similarities and differences in context and approach are explored with a primary focus on the five main anthropological topoi of food, water, blood, wood and stone, and cosmology. A range of intertextual elements in both these Islamic and Christian traditions is discerned.Less
What is a miracle? Who believes in their possibility? What is the historical context within which they emerge?These and related questions have vexed, puzzled and, indeed, enthused scholars and believers, atheists and non-believers alike down the ages.This book examines this perennially fascinating subject of miracles with a comparative focus on two of the world’s great monotheistic religions, Islam and Christianity. Other texts have often approached the subject from a strictly theological, faith or, alternatively, rationalistic, perspective and made it their concern to prove or disprove the possibility of an alleged miraculous event. The approach adopted in this volume is quite different. It is strictly anthropological and phenomenological and the miracles are viewed in a new and dynamic fashion through the lens of narratology. The book examines the stories behind these miracles, the contexts which gave rise to them and allowed them to garner belief and flourish. Perspectives covered include the views of believers and non-believers alike in these phenomena. Similarities and differences in context and approach are explored with a primary focus on the five main anthropological topoi of food, water, blood, wood and stone, and cosmology. A range of intertextual elements in both these Islamic and Christian traditions is discerned.
Ernest Campbell Mossner
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199243365
- eISBN:
- 9780191697241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199243365.003.0018
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Throughout the spring of 1749 David Hume remained in London widening his literary contacts. The Philosophical Essays, which Andrew Millar had published, had gone unanswered and seemingly unnoticed ...
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Throughout the spring of 1749 David Hume remained in London widening his literary contacts. The Philosophical Essays, which Andrew Millar had published, had gone unanswered and seemingly unnoticed despite the presence of the inflammatory essay ‘Of Miracles’. Oddly enough it was Hume himself, acting as temporary reader for Millar, who was instrumental in the bringing out of the first refutation in Ophiomaches; or Deism Revealed, an anonymous work in two volumes by an Irish clergyman, the Reverend Philip Skelton. Breaking his journey at Oxford on his way to London to seek a publisher, Skelton was introduced to Dr John Conybeare, the Dean of Christ Church. Conybeare handed him a copy of Philosophical Essays, suggesting that he should introduce into his manuscript some comments on the section ‘Of Miracles’; and Skelton acquiesced. The incident points to the growing intimacy between Hume and Millar.Less
Throughout the spring of 1749 David Hume remained in London widening his literary contacts. The Philosophical Essays, which Andrew Millar had published, had gone unanswered and seemingly unnoticed despite the presence of the inflammatory essay ‘Of Miracles’. Oddly enough it was Hume himself, acting as temporary reader for Millar, who was instrumental in the bringing out of the first refutation in Ophiomaches; or Deism Revealed, an anonymous work in two volumes by an Irish clergyman, the Reverend Philip Skelton. Breaking his journey at Oxford on his way to London to seek a publisher, Skelton was introduced to Dr John Conybeare, the Dean of Christ Church. Conybeare handed him a copy of Philosophical Essays, suggesting that he should introduce into his manuscript some comments on the section ‘Of Miracles’; and Skelton acquiesced. The incident points to the growing intimacy between Hume and Millar.
Ernest Campbell Mossner
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199243365
- eISBN:
- 9780191697241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199243365.003.0022
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Refutations of David Hume's publications began to pile up during the 1750s, which he remarked in My Own Life. The remark is well within the bounds of truth since answers to the two Enquiries, ...
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Refutations of David Hume's publications began to pile up during the 1750s, which he remarked in My Own Life. The remark is well within the bounds of truth since answers to the two Enquiries, including ‘Of Miracles’, alone totalled two in 1751; four in 1752; five in 1753; three in 1754; and two in 1755. ‘Of Miracles’, perhaps naturally enough considering the temper of the age, was chiefly responsible for the sudden interest taken in Hume. The purpose of ‘Of Miracles’ was to determine, not the philosophical issue of the possibility of miracles, but the evidential issue ‘that no human testimony can have such a force as to prove a miracle, and make it a just foundation for any…system of religion’. In so delimiting the issue to history and to religion, Hume was following in a well-established pattern.Less
Refutations of David Hume's publications began to pile up during the 1750s, which he remarked in My Own Life. The remark is well within the bounds of truth since answers to the two Enquiries, including ‘Of Miracles’, alone totalled two in 1751; four in 1752; five in 1753; three in 1754; and two in 1755. ‘Of Miracles’, perhaps naturally enough considering the temper of the age, was chiefly responsible for the sudden interest taken in Hume. The purpose of ‘Of Miracles’ was to determine, not the philosophical issue of the possibility of miracles, but the evidential issue ‘that no human testimony can have such a force as to prove a miracle, and make it a just foundation for any…system of religion’. In so delimiting the issue to history and to religion, Hume was following in a well-established pattern.
Jon Bialecki
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520294202
- eISBN:
- 9780520967410
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520294202.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Religion
What is the work that miracles do in American Charismatic Evangelicalism? How are miracles something that are at once unanticipated, and yet worked for? Finally, what do miracles tell us about ...
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What is the work that miracles do in American Charismatic Evangelicalism? How are miracles something that are at once unanticipated, and yet worked for? Finally, what do miracles tell us about Christianity, and even about the category of religion? A Diagram for Fire engages with those questions through an detailed ethnographic study of the Vineyard, a Southern-California originated American Evangelical movement known for believing that biblical-style miracles are something that all Christians can perform today. This book sees the miracle a resource and a challenge to institutional cohesion and human planning, and as an immanently-situated and fundamentally social means of producing change that operates through taking surprise and the unexpected, and using it to reimagine and reconfigure the will. A Diagram for Fire shows how this configuration of the miraculous shapes typical Pentecostal and Charismatic religious practices such as prophesy, speaking in tongues, healing, and battling demons; but it also shows how the miraculous as a configuration also ends up shaping other practices that seem far from the miracle, such as a sense of temporality, music, reading, economic choices, and both conservative and progressive political imaginaries. This book suggests that the open potential of the miracle, and the ironic constriction of the miracle’s potential through the intentional attempt to embrace it, has much to tell us not only about how contemporary Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity both functions and changes, but about an underlying mutability that plays an important role in Christianity and even in religion writ large.Less
What is the work that miracles do in American Charismatic Evangelicalism? How are miracles something that are at once unanticipated, and yet worked for? Finally, what do miracles tell us about Christianity, and even about the category of religion? A Diagram for Fire engages with those questions through an detailed ethnographic study of the Vineyard, a Southern-California originated American Evangelical movement known for believing that biblical-style miracles are something that all Christians can perform today. This book sees the miracle a resource and a challenge to institutional cohesion and human planning, and as an immanently-situated and fundamentally social means of producing change that operates through taking surprise and the unexpected, and using it to reimagine and reconfigure the will. A Diagram for Fire shows how this configuration of the miraculous shapes typical Pentecostal and Charismatic religious practices such as prophesy, speaking in tongues, healing, and battling demons; but it also shows how the miraculous as a configuration also ends up shaping other practices that seem far from the miracle, such as a sense of temporality, music, reading, economic choices, and both conservative and progressive political imaginaries. This book suggests that the open potential of the miracle, and the ironic constriction of the miracle’s potential through the intentional attempt to embrace it, has much to tell us not only about how contemporary Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity both functions and changes, but about an underlying mutability that plays an important role in Christianity and even in religion writ large.
Sylvia Huot
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199252121
- eISBN:
- 9780191719110
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199252121.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter examines the ways that medieval texts negotiate the line distinguishing madness from greatness, which may take the form of heroism or sanctity. The anxiety associated with the ...
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This chapter examines the ways that medieval texts negotiate the line distinguishing madness from greatness, which may take the form of heroism or sanctity. The anxiety associated with the distinction between the saint and the lunatic is evident both in tales of ‘holy fools’ and in stories of genuine mad people whose trajectory offers a parody or failure of sainthood. Arnold of Villanova and Jean Gerson are cited in setting the cultural context. Examples include the tale ‘Fou’ from the Vie des pères, Robert le Diable, and the Miracles de St. Louis. In the secular realm, madness often afflicts the heroes of chivalric romance, and is linked to their capacity for passionate love and reckless military exploits; the principal examples here are Chrétien de Troyes’s Chevalier au lion (Yvain) and the anonymous Amadas et Ydoine.Less
This chapter examines the ways that medieval texts negotiate the line distinguishing madness from greatness, which may take the form of heroism or sanctity. The anxiety associated with the distinction between the saint and the lunatic is evident both in tales of ‘holy fools’ and in stories of genuine mad people whose trajectory offers a parody or failure of sainthood. Arnold of Villanova and Jean Gerson are cited in setting the cultural context. Examples include the tale ‘Fou’ from the Vie des pères, Robert le Diable, and the Miracles de St. Louis. In the secular realm, madness often afflicts the heroes of chivalric romance, and is linked to their capacity for passionate love and reckless military exploits; the principal examples here are Chrétien de Troyes’s Chevalier au lion (Yvain) and the anonymous Amadas et Ydoine.
Herman Philipse
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199697533
- eISBN:
- 9780191738470
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199697533.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Theism can be a theory or existential hypothesis to be confirmed by empirical evidence only if it has some predictive power. Theists should (and do) prefer a purely logical definition of predictive ...
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Theism can be a theory or existential hypothesis to be confirmed by empirical evidence only if it has some predictive power. Theists should (and do) prefer a purely logical definition of predictive power, according to which a hypothesis h has predictive power with regard to evidence e iff the relevance condition P ( e | h & k ) 〉 P ( e | k ) is met. But theism can have predictive power in this sense with regard to existing evidence only if one can non-arbitrarily attribute creative intentions to God. The auxiliary hypotheses attributing these intentions should be independently justified. It is argued that Richard Swinburne’s solution to this problem of theism’s predictive power on the basis of his moral objectivism (or moral realism) fails, and that his attributions of creative intentions to God are anthropomorphic projections.Less
Theism can be a theory or existential hypothesis to be confirmed by empirical evidence only if it has some predictive power. Theists should (and do) prefer a purely logical definition of predictive power, according to which a hypothesis h has predictive power with regard to evidence e iff the relevance condition P ( e | h & k ) 〉 P ( e | k ) is met. But theism can have predictive power in this sense with regard to existing evidence only if one can non-arbitrarily attribute creative intentions to God. The auxiliary hypotheses attributing these intentions should be independently justified. It is argued that Richard Swinburne’s solution to this problem of theism’s predictive power on the basis of his moral objectivism (or moral realism) fails, and that his attributions of creative intentions to God are anthropomorphic projections.
Herman Philipse
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199697533
- eISBN:
- 9780191738470
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199697533.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Natural theologians who aim at confirming the theistic hypothesis by adducing empirical evidence are confronted by the dilemma of God-of-the-gaps. Either theism predicts no specific phenomena at all, ...
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Natural theologians who aim at confirming the theistic hypothesis by adducing empirical evidence are confronted by the dilemma of God-of-the-gaps. Either theism predicts no specific phenomena at all, or these phenomena may be accounted for in the future by superior scientific explanations, so that theism will be disconfirmed. A pessimistic induction concerning the history of science and natural theology will convince sophisticated natural theologians that they should avoid this risk of God-of-the-gaps. Richard Swinburne uses the following immunizing strategy: theism should purport to explain only phenomena that are either ‘too big’ or ‘too odd’ for science to explain. But this strategy fails with regard to miracles (too odd), as is argued by a detailed examination of the case of Christ’s bodily resurrection, and it is problematic with regard to instances of ‘too big’, such as fine-tuning, or the explanation of the universe as a whole.Less
Natural theologians who aim at confirming the theistic hypothesis by adducing empirical evidence are confronted by the dilemma of God-of-the-gaps. Either theism predicts no specific phenomena at all, or these phenomena may be accounted for in the future by superior scientific explanations, so that theism will be disconfirmed. A pessimistic induction concerning the history of science and natural theology will convince sophisticated natural theologians that they should avoid this risk of God-of-the-gaps. Richard Swinburne uses the following immunizing strategy: theism should purport to explain only phenomena that are either ‘too big’ or ‘too odd’ for science to explain. But this strategy fails with regard to miracles (too odd), as is argued by a detailed examination of the case of Christ’s bodily resurrection, and it is problematic with regard to instances of ‘too big’, such as fine-tuning, or the explanation of the universe as a whole.
Lionel Laborie
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719089886
- eISBN:
- 9781526104007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719089886.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Chapter 3 explores the French Prophets’ system of beliefs against the backdrop of contemporary denominations in an attempt to understand their spiritual appeal to an English audience. It explores ...
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Chapter 3 explores the French Prophets’ system of beliefs against the backdrop of contemporary denominations in an attempt to understand their spiritual appeal to an English audience. It explores England’s long millenarian tradition before the Camisards found refuge in London. Their emphasis on religious experience (spirit possession, prophecy, gift of tongues, miracles, dreams and visions) over doctrinal boundaries enabled the French Prophets, and enthusiasts more generally, to appeal to all denominations alike. Their ecumenical ambition to reconcile Judaeo-Christian denominations into a Universal Church has been misunderstood as a form of sectarianism. This chapter argues on the contrary, that enthusiasm, as a religious experience, was ecumenical and irenic, that is the opposite of religious dissent.Less
Chapter 3 explores the French Prophets’ system of beliefs against the backdrop of contemporary denominations in an attempt to understand their spiritual appeal to an English audience. It explores England’s long millenarian tradition before the Camisards found refuge in London. Their emphasis on religious experience (spirit possession, prophecy, gift of tongues, miracles, dreams and visions) over doctrinal boundaries enabled the French Prophets, and enthusiasts more generally, to appeal to all denominations alike. Their ecumenical ambition to reconcile Judaeo-Christian denominations into a Universal Church has been misunderstood as a form of sectarianism. This chapter argues on the contrary, that enthusiasm, as a religious experience, was ecumenical and irenic, that is the opposite of religious dissent.
Lionel Laborie
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719089886
- eISBN:
- 9781526104007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719089886.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Chapter 4 explores the debate around enthusiasm in late Stuart England. After looking at the French Prophets’ millenarian assemblies, during which they performed Biblical allegories and miracles, it ...
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Chapter 4 explores the debate around enthusiasm in late Stuart England. After looking at the French Prophets’ millenarian assemblies, during which they performed Biblical allegories and miracles, it considers how enthusiasts and dissenters took advantage of the lapsing of the Licensing Act in 1695 to promote their beliefs. With their claims to divine inspirations and insight into the future, the French Prophets sparked a spectacular battle of pamphlets of at least 150 extant titles in just three years. This controversy contributed to the early Enlightenment debate on the nature of enthusiasm. It shows how beliefs in witchcraft and demonic possessions persisted beyond 1700 and how satire became a weapon against enthusiasts in general. The case of the French Prophets would later serve as a precedent against the Methodists in the mid eighteenth century.Less
Chapter 4 explores the debate around enthusiasm in late Stuart England. After looking at the French Prophets’ millenarian assemblies, during which they performed Biblical allegories and miracles, it considers how enthusiasts and dissenters took advantage of the lapsing of the Licensing Act in 1695 to promote their beliefs. With their claims to divine inspirations and insight into the future, the French Prophets sparked a spectacular battle of pamphlets of at least 150 extant titles in just three years. This controversy contributed to the early Enlightenment debate on the nature of enthusiasm. It shows how beliefs in witchcraft and demonic possessions persisted beyond 1700 and how satire became a weapon against enthusiasts in general. The case of the French Prophets would later serve as a precedent against the Methodists in the mid eighteenth century.
Larry Shapiro
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231178402
- eISBN:
- 9780231542142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231178402.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Because miracles have supernatural causes, a justified belief that a given event is a miracle requires that one be justified in believing that its cause is supernatural. But the only way to infer ...
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Because miracles have supernatural causes, a justified belief that a given event is a miracle requires that one be justified in believing that its cause is supernatural. But the only way to infer that a supernatural cause exists is through a kind of inference -- inference to the best explanation. Unfortunately, inference to the best explanation cannot justify belief in the supernatural. Thus, belief in miracles is unjustified.Less
Because miracles have supernatural causes, a justified belief that a given event is a miracle requires that one be justified in believing that its cause is supernatural. But the only way to infer that a supernatural cause exists is through a kind of inference -- inference to the best explanation. Unfortunately, inference to the best explanation cannot justify belief in the supernatural. Thus, belief in miracles is unjustified.
Larry Shapiro
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231178402
- eISBN:
- 9780231542142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231178402.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
What are miracles? They are events that involve a violation of natural law due to the intervention of a supernatural, typically divine, being. Because we think that such interventions are extremely ...
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What are miracles? They are events that involve a violation of natural law due to the intervention of a supernatural, typically divine, being. Because we think that such interventions are extremely rare, miracles too should be among the least frequent of events. This makes justifying beliefs about miracles especially difficult.Less
What are miracles? They are events that involve a violation of natural law due to the intervention of a supernatural, typically divine, being. Because we think that such interventions are extremely rare, miracles too should be among the least frequent of events. This makes justifying beliefs about miracles especially difficult.
Larry Shapiro
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231178402
- eISBN:
- 9780231542142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231178402.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Can evidence for miracles meet the especially good standard required to have justified beliefs about them? Historians make use of various strategies to justify their claims about past events. The ...
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Can evidence for miracles meet the especially good standard required to have justified beliefs about them? Historians make use of various strategies to justify their claims about past events. The miracles purported in The Book of Mormon provide a nice case study for examining whether historical study can provide us with enough evidence to be justified in believing that they actually occurred. But, in this case, the evidence doesn't meet historical standards of adequacy, and is thus well-short of what's required for justified belief.Less
Can evidence for miracles meet the especially good standard required to have justified beliefs about them? Historians make use of various strategies to justify their claims about past events. The miracles purported in The Book of Mormon provide a nice case study for examining whether historical study can provide us with enough evidence to be justified in believing that they actually occurred. But, in this case, the evidence doesn't meet historical standards of adequacy, and is thus well-short of what's required for justified belief.
Larry Shapiro
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231178402
- eISBN:
- 9780231542142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231178402.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Perhaps one should continue to believe in miracles even granting that such a belief is unjustified. But, just as one seeks more justification for a serious medical diagnosis than for an insignificant ...
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Perhaps one should continue to believe in miracles even granting that such a belief is unjustified. But, just as one seeks more justification for a serious medical diagnosis than for an insignificant one, so too one should desire justification for a belief in miracles if such a belief plays an important role in your life. Surprisingly, faith makes more sense for those who don't care about miracles in the first place.Less
Perhaps one should continue to believe in miracles even granting that such a belief is unjustified. But, just as one seeks more justification for a serious medical diagnosis than for an insignificant one, so too one should desire justification for a belief in miracles if such a belief plays an important role in your life. Surprisingly, faith makes more sense for those who don't care about miracles in the first place.
