Miracle, Coincidence, and Supernatural Cause

• Authors: David Corner
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Some, or all, of the events that are usually taken to be miracles might be explained as falling under the scope of statistical laws, and thus be susceptible to natural explanation. Arguably, they would then be reduced to the status of mere coincidences. Is it reasonable (1) to consider such events as being caused by God, (2) to be divine interventions, or even (3) to consider them to be instances of divine agency at all? Finally, (4) would their status as miracles be undermined? In this paper I focus on the first three questions. I argue that it would not be reasonable to consider them as being caused by God; nevertheless, there is nothing standing in the way of our describing them as expressing divine agency or as divine interventions. In regard to (4), I offer considerations in favor of such events being accepted as miracles, but I do not attempt to give a decisive answer to this question here.

Keywords

EN

miracle; coincidence; supernatural cause; divine action; basic action

PL

cud; koincydencja; przyczyna nadnaturalna; działanie Boga; proste działanie

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie
• Journal: Studia Philosophiae Christianae
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 5-26

Contributors

author

David Corner

• Sacramento State University, Department of Philosophy, Sacramento, USA