Loading...As most readers of the blog know, I do not believe in miracles. At least in literal miracles as normally understood. I suppose most people think of an actual or literal miracle as an event that cannot be explained through natural causes but requires some kind of supernatural intervention, an act of a divine being who is outside of this nexus of cause and effect, an act of God.
I should stress that this does not necessarily mean that we *do* know the natural causes of everything that we do not consider miraculous – only that in principle they are discoverable. I stress that point because most of us have no clue how *most* of what happens happens. I couldn’t explain how my toaster works if my life depended upon it, let alone anything (just about *anything*) having to do with biology, chemistry, or physics, let alone the wonders of the human brain, or the expansion of the universe, or, well, as I said, most things. But that doesn’t mean that I need to appeal to a miraculous intervention of God every time I want to cook my breakfast or think about my brain. It just means that there are in principle explicable things that I myself can’t explain.
A miracle would involve the violation of what we used to call “natural law. There aren’t strictly speaking any laws, since, well, there is no cosmic congressional body to create them and no heavenly judicial branch to enforce them and, in any event, what we used to think of as laws often have exceptions that can be explained. And so, instead of invoking “law” it is it’s probably better to talk about nature as acting in *highly* predictable ways when the constants are constant. Some things apparently can’t happen.
It can’t happen that humans unaided can elevate into the air and fly across town; or that humans can walk on luke warm water in the middle of a lake; or come back to life after being dead for three years; to pick just three out of a billion examples.
I have gotten into long debates with conservative evangelicals over whether it is possible to *prove* whether a miracle has ever happened in the past. Their view, boiled down to its essence, is (a) we should not disallow the possibility of miracle in principle, since that would be bringing an anti-supernaturalist bias into the discussion and one should never allow one’s biases to dictate their conclusions, and (b) there is often good evidence for miracles – for example, people we trust who claim they have seen them (e.g., walking on water, or healing the sick with a touch of the hand, or, well, rising from the dead).
When I have these debates I simply bypass point (a) by saying that I’m willing to admit for the purposes of argument that miracles are possible and not allow my bias against them to have any bearing on the argument I make and then point out that however well attested a miracle is, there are always natural explanations that on balance are necessarily *more* probable than the supernatural explanations. (If your neighbor swears that she and ten others saw her pastor walking on the water, I can think of a dozen explanations for her being wrong about that, all of which are more probable than that her pastor was somehow able to suspend the “laws” of physics to make it happen.)
Even though I do not believe in miracles in a *literal* sense, I still think the world we live in is a fantastically, amazingly, unbelievably miraculous place, in a metaphorical sense. I have been captured by the wonder of the world more and more as I grow older. I can’t get my mind around how there can be 100 billion stars in our galaxy, and that there are two trillion galaxies in our universe, and that there may be an incalculable number of universes. How does anyone realize this without becoming breathless in awe and marvel?
Or how can we understand that there are also 100 billion neurons in each of our brains? The brain is an absolute wonder to behold and consider. I have to admit every time I reflect on it the words of the Psalmist come to mind “Oh Lord, I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
I have experienced a vastly increased sense of wonder and awe about the world, and about my brain, and my body, and my life, and the existence of life, and lots of other things over the past four years as I’ve developed a meditation practice. I spent three years simply meditating on my physical being, my body; now I’ve spent a year exploring my mind and the life principle that lies beneath/behind it all. Truly awe-inspiring. We are amazing beings.
The closest thing I’ve actually had to *witnessing* a “miracle,” though, was when I was present for the birth of my two children, Kelly in 1980 and Derek in 1982. Absolutely mind-boggling. The appearance of new life. Out of non-life. The coming of new life into the world is one of those things I can’t and never will understand. It’s not that I think “God did it” – any more than I think that God made it rain yesterday (something else I don’t understand). But I think new life is beyond my ability to comprehend and I marvel at it.
This has been brought very close to mind (and heart) this week. Three days ago my grandson was born to my son Derek and his wonderful wife Amanda. Elliot Benjamin Ehrman-Matson. A new life in the world. My third grandchild and first grandson. Life goes on, and on, and on. May it go on forever and may wonders never cease.
Congratulations, Dr Ehrman!
Congratulations on the birth of your grandson!
In evangelical circles I have heard many anecdotal accounts of miracles ranging from a woman having a baby after a hysterectomy to the literal raising of the dead. Color me skeptical but, like you, I don’t want to be biased against such miraculous events, but proving “God did it” is truly a God of the gaps argument. The truth is we don’t know what may have caused these events, if they did indeed happen, and by saying “God did it” we literally are filling in the gaps of our knowledge with appeals to a deity to answer such questions instead of just saying “we don’t know.” The history of science is filled with examples of when unexplained phenomena that were once attributed to a deity were later to have found a natural cause.
The problem with God of the gaps arguments is that they seem to close the book on further investigation and explanation. Why look further if “God did it” settles the matter? So I agree both science and Historical Scholarship can not appeal to miracles as answers to causes of specific events and phenomena.
Is that a bias? I guess it is, but I cannot find away around it. So my question to you Bart is, how can you, or any of us, remain unbiased on this issue while at the same time recognizing that miracles are not in the jurisdiction of natural sciences and historical scholarship?
Congratulations on your new grandson. There is nothing more “wonderful”-ful than the birth of a baby. It may not be a true miracle in the strictest sense but I would call it miraculous and awe inspiring.
“The appearance of new life. Out of non-life.“. In a literal sense, the new life “proceeds” from old life—-you and and your wife and stretching back to your parents and the back billions of years to the first act of creation: which does not make it any less miraculous.
I like the title of Dean Radin’s book, Super Normal. Why can’t sudden healing be part and a process of nature? I have witnessed drastically improved symptoms to pain via various hands-on physical techniques. One should experience Myofascial unwinding by a skilled Physical or Massage Therapist. People interpret this emotional and physically healing experience as “mystical” but there are neurobiologic processes involved. Sometimes the art or skill precedes the scientific explanation. Your right…. we know so little about the placebo effect, our brain, the universe and even the nature of consciousness. Discovery is a world without end. Congrats on continuing your seed!
Congratulations on your having that new grandson! I’ve never had children, but I think I can imagine what you’re feeling. I do have a grandnephew (in his thirties now), and I remember how awed I was by the perfection of his baby self. Best baby ever!
In the larger scheme of things… I have *hypotheses* (I wouldn’t call them “beliefs”) about the Cosmos we live in. That the Cosmos itself is a Being (the “Uncaused Cause”) – in a sense, alive – and we are *parts* of that Being, rather than inferior “creations.” (And to the extent I can “know” anything, I know reincarnation is a fact, because of the actual evidence for it. I don’t know how it fits into that “larger scheme of things,” but I’m sure it does.)
A few days ago, I read that some scientists are now suggesting something they’re calling “panpsychism” – the idea that some kind of consciousness *permeates our universe*.
And I’ve been thinking of an analogy: that just as there are a vast number of cells in my body, I may be one of a vast number of cells in the “body” of the Cosmos.
Congrats on the new arrival. I’m fortunate to have seven healthy grandkids. If anyone is confused about the meaning of life or is wondering about a plan for life, the answer is (and always had been) family. Everything else is transient. Family endures.
Miracles: David Hume arguably has had the final word on the possibility of miracles (his book “On Miracles”).
Some argue in support of the existence of miracles that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. But this is an error. Absence of evidence IS evidence of absence if that evidence should be there. If a supernatural entity is interacting with the natural world (the definition of miracle) and thereby causing changes to occur, there should be evidence of this. And nothing supporting the existence of miracles has ever been found. The science of particle physics (the most foundational of the sciences) has searched at distances as short as a billion times smaller than a proton and at time scales as small as a billionth of a billionth of a second without finding evidence of supernatural forces and/or particles. Similarly, there is no evidence of supernatural forces at work at cosmological distances and energies.
Probably the most common claims for the occurrence of miracles involve holy shrines and sainthood. Lourdes is most prominent. In the more than 150 years since the initial “miracle” occurred there, tens of millions of pilgrims have journeyed to the shrine seeking cures for physical ailments. The Roman Catholic church has certified less than 100 of these events as miracles. The NT “Ask and you shall receive” advice does not seem to be very effective. And the entire issue of how to distinguish without error a miraculous healing claim from an entirely spontaneous, but rare, natural response of the human body has never been convincingly established.
A friend of Oscar Wilde was showing the playwright around Lourdes, pointing out the wheelchairs, the leg braces, neck braces, back braces, crutches left by petitioners who believed themselves miraculously cured. Wilde said that’s all well and good, but now show me the wooden legs and the glass eyeballs.
Congratulations on your new grandson! May the miracles in his life all be good and never bad.
I suppose we have a need to ‘Know’ which served us well for most of our evolutionary history: ‘That is food; that is a predator.’ And, as we cannot, individually, know very much about the world, we simplify things to a level that we can understand: ‘God did it.’
For anybody who has not read it, I recommend Leonard E. Read’s famous essay, ‘I,Pencil.’
Congratulations! I got to watch my granddaughter being born (way to early, she was a micropreemie) and it really does seem to be “miraculous”. I was knocked out, against my wishes, for the birth of my son but was able to watch my daughter being born. Painful as birth is, watching it happen helps the pain tremendously and I cherish the experience! Enjoy the new “peanut” added to the gallery of the Ehrman clan and may health and happiness follow you and yours.
It’s interesting to see an anti supernatural bias appear in some of those evangelicals who accuse others of it, when one brings up some Catholic sightings of Mary. No matter how well attested and reliable, a conservative evangelical protestant is just not going to buy it, or any miracle that doesn’t jibe with what they think the bible teaches. Or they blame it on the devil.
Would anyone say growing a new set of teeth would not be a miracle? Yet every one of us does grow a second set of teeth onetime in his lifetime. If you cut your hand, it miraculously heals. Lose a toenail, a new one mysteriously grows back. Miracles amount to natural events that we don’t expect can happen. You know this of course.
There are plenty documented examples of miracles happening; there have been movies made based on true events. I personally experienced what I can only call a miracle back in 1975, so I just laugh when someone says miracles are not possible, having myself experienced one such. There are people who see auras, can read peoples thoughts, can see non-physical beings. None of these are miracles, just something that is experienced that for most of us doesn’t happen.
Metaphysics explains the natural phenomenon. Our thoughts create our reality. Collectively we have an agreed upon understanding of what can happen and what cannot. Medical doctors learn that keeping a patient positive will help him overcome his problem, a small measure of our thoughts creating our reality.
People in some less developed countries are more likely to experience what we call miracles, because collectively more in that society believe such things are possible. Eating habits are a factor too, tying us more to the earth.
As the saying goes, if I had known grandchildren were so much fun, I’d have had them first! Congratulations! Personally I find the world a more amazing place when I explore the natural wonders and the science behind them, rather than throwing my hands up and blindly saying, God did it somehow. It is curious that Jesus did not leave behind a single “permanent” miracle that can be verified. I can think of any number of things, including tossing a mountain into the sea, as he suggested was possible.
Congratulations, and I couldn’t agree more.
We had twins, by c-section. No matter how intellectually prepared I was, within a span of about 90 seconds there were two new lives right there in front of me (a boy and a girl, to boot!) and I was totally unprepared for the psychic wave of that experience. Absolute miracle.
Great post. I think it’s worth knowing a little science, if only to experience the wonder and awe of what we don’t yet understand, and the excitement that the unknown can in theory one day be explained. I don’t believe in miracles either, but as you say, a lot depends on how you define that term. More than anything else, science is a tool that forces us to think clearly and to accept nothing as given or preordained.
One thing to also keep in mind, however, is that even though there may be no “laws” of physics decreed by some divine court, the fundamental numbers, or constants, underlying all of physics and chemistry, are, as far as we have been able to determine, just that – constant (at least in our universe). In theory, our universe’s beginning can be explained through a quantum fluctuation out of nothing, but even if this was the case, the ‘laws’ of quantum mechanics and statistics had to have somehow preexisted the universe.
So, even though we as scientists are far beyond the point of invoking a deity to explain everything we don’t understand (a ‘god of the gaps’), we still run smack into an ontological wall with the ultimate question: what is the primordial existential ‘stuff’ from which everything else came? Hint: whatever it was, it almost certainly wasn’t ‘physical’ in nature.
A great little book I would recommend everyone with an interest in ‘ultimate’ questions read is philosopher Jim Holt’s – ‘Why Does the World Exist?’ A lot of big ideas packed into a small paperback format.
btw – Congrats on the new grandchild! 🙂
Congratulations!
Congratulations and well said!
Thank you for the post Dr. Ehrman.
On a side note, do most modern translations get John 1:1 right? From Westcott and Hort, what is the right translation of the passage? Do the modern translations have a major theological axe to grind?
ΕΝ ΑΡΧΗ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
Source:
Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek (Logos Bible Software, 2009), Jn 1:1.
My view is the standard one. It should read “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
I’ve always wondered about this one, Dr. Ehrman. The composer of this verse is obviously borrowing language from the LXX. They both begin with ᾿Εν ἀρχῇ and they both use the verb ἦν. In the case of Genesis, ἦν is used in the phrase ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, and in John it is used in the phrase καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
So what I’m wondering is, shouldn’t the meaning of ἦν in John match the meaning of ἦν in Genesis? And if that’s the case, doesn’t the fact that its use in Genesis, as a link between noun and attribute (“the earth” was “unformed and void”) be similar to its use in John as, possibly, a link between noun and attribute? Namely, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν means “and the Word was a part of God,” and καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος means “and God was the Word”?
I mean, if read that way, it makes a lot more sense, to my eyes at least. It’s saying the Word is a part of God that God used to do the things that he did, such as create “heaven and earth”. The Word is literally God in the sense that it’s a part of God, but the Word itself isn’t literally God. God was the Word, but the Word, itself, wasn’t God. In logical terms, we might distinguish between the universal and the particular. That is, we might say that all the Word is God, but not all God is the Word. We may imagine a Venn Diagram with a large circle that includes all “God” and within that large circle is a smaller circle that includes all “Word”.
My view is that intertexts can illuminate a author’s text but can’t be seen as determinative of his meaning. For that one has to pay more attention to his own context.
That can be considered an accurate translation, but it’s misleading in the extreme. A better translation would be, “In the beginning was the Logos …” At least then the reader would realize that he couldn’t understand the text until he learned what Logos meant. It’s a one-word representation of a major body of thought in Greek philosophy.
Fair enough. But in that case, why not simply translate the verse without *any* English words, as “En arche ēn ho logos”?
Because people generally understand what ‘in the beginning’ means.
Exactly. That’s why we translate in the first place.
My point was that translating logos does not convey its meaning. Not the meaning it had then. For logos, translation is misleading, a disservice. Most Christians today think they know what John 1:1 means. But few know that logos was just the name of a well-established Greek philosophy.
Something is lost in translation for virtually every word. Or rhema. Or logos. 🙂 (I would argue that most readers don’t understand the significance of “in the beginning” either.) (And the word “was” is extremely important here) (I’m serious) (It really *does* matter what the meaning of the word is is.)
Amen
New best seller, new grandkid. You’re on a *roll* this week, Bart!
Warmest congratulations, second day in a row, lol.
😀
What joy this little one brings! I enjoyed your beautiful tribute.
100% agreement. The wonders of the universe are more than a ‘consolation’ for lost faith. They’re an upgrade in living quality. Some of us are really lucky in that we are free to follow extraordinary interests in life and explore its richness. In my case the local astronomy club, a Classical Greek private instruction class I’ve enjoyed for 12 years, quality books and instructional material that put life’s ups and downs into a new perspective, and much more. But over-riding everything is the joy of one’s family and the rewarding experience and responsibilities of love.
The education of our young is far and away our greatest responsibility so that they might follow their own paths to fulfilment.
Thank you Dr Ehrman for your informative contributions to what I suspect is an increasingly large community of people coming to a similar realisation.
All of your posts are terrifically good, I think, but then on occasion there is one that is truly wonderful like this one. Thanks, Dr. Ehrman.
Wow! What a terrific post. Save it and give a copy to your grandson on his 12th birthday.
That this vast, incredible world came from nothing makes no sense. That God came from nothing also makes no sense. As Bogart said in the “African Queen”: You pays your money and you makes your choice.”
Thinking about the brain is an interesting example, since it is the brain that does the thinking! Somewhat analogous to jumping in your car and driving to the steering wheel.
Congratulations!!!
Hi Bart. Just finished your very enjoyable and well argued book The Triumph of Christianity. What impressed me was just how few Christians there were at the start. If there were just 1500 or so dotted around the place in 60 CE, isn’t it surprisingly that Nero had heard of them let alone chose to scapegoat them for the fire that destroyed Rome? Is it possible that Tacitus got this wrong?
Yes, it’s interesting, but not implausible. There were probably more in Rome than elsewhere, and possibly they were maligned already for their strange behaviors and ways. We don’t know how many he executed. A couple dozen? More? Less?
Congrats!
Dear Professor Ehrman:
Congratulations on the birth of your new grandson! I wish him and you all the best.
Sincerely,
Jim Domino
A close friend of mine of now 24 years was involved in a head on collision with a tractor trailer that swerved into their lane while they were returning from vacation in an adjoining state. His brother-in-law who was driving was killed instantly My friend was on the driver’s side and was flung through the window shield (no he was not wearing a seat belt/ he had in fact just changed seats with is wife in the van’s backseat and hadn’t time). When I visited him in the hospital in the ICU, I was told by the presiding doctor that he was brain dead. All tests showed brain death. Frankly, the diagnosis made me angry and I won’t repeat how I responded. Last night I had dinner (pizza) with Luis. His brain is fine and his memory is a lot better than mine. He is back at work full time at two upscale restaurants as head of maintenance and he does it all. Yes. His body is held together by 43 screws and a number of iron rods and he’s had 9 surgeries .. but brain dead? There is no signs of trauma. I have never heard him complain and he has no time for depression. I consider this a miracle and I thank yes God every day. He is also my hero!
I’ve got more personal stories and experiences.
AsI’m certainly glad it went well for him and sorry no miracle for the other guy. Medical situatuons are always iffy since so much is still unknown. It might be thought by many more as a miracle if some had laid hands on him and his broken bones and injuries instantly were gone. But as you point out, there was a lot of medical science and hardware involved. I’ve seen a lot of contraversy from time to time about brain death due to how and where it is measured (any internal probes?) . Among the miracles you claim to have seen: any decapitations or amputations instantly fixed? Etc.? With all the wrecks and disasters there are plenty of opportunities to demonstrate miraculous powers if anyone has them. I am always in awe of all the people claiming “In God We Trust” and belief in the power of prayer that insist on going to doctors and take medicine. Given a choice between antibiotics or prayer, what do Christians choose?
Congratulations Dr. Ehrman on your new grandson! ????
Many congratulations Dr. Ehrman. We too have a son named Derek born in 1982, but alas, no grandchildren from him. His little brother, Nathan though, has given us two beautiful granddaughters, Kairi Lynne and Marjorie Ashlyn. I’m still waiting for a grandson to carry on the family name one more generation.
Yes. Congratulations on your grandson!
Congratulations on the birth of your grandson! Recently I heard a christian theologian discuss his skepticism of modern day miracles/or the definition of them, as he clarified the reason Jesus’s miracles had been defined as such was because there was no other method to combat the problems of that time. (eg. modern day medicine or science). Would you as a scholar agree to an extent with this? Maybe the modern day church has missed the memo of why things were labelled miracles.
Ancient people thought of miracles as divine acts in our world; the word for “miracle” in the NT is literally “act of power.” So, yes, if a person was healed by invoking a god, then that was a miracle (since in most cases there was no medical solution)
2018 seem to be your year Bart….the Book, the baby. They say things come in threes…I bet you’re having fun guessing what will complete the Hat Trick!
If I may digress (sorry)…the Passion was read at Mass this past Sunday with Mark’s version. Mk 14:51-52 has always struck me as curious [the man who was seized during the arrest , but escaped naked, leaving his sole piece of linen clothing]. This seems totally irrelevant to the scenario (almost TMI) , and I wonder why the author thought it important to include. The succeeding synoptics apparently didn’t think so, nor did John. Has any scholar (including yourself, of course) discussed this?
Yes, there are many, many interpretatoins about what it is all about. But I”ve never plunged into trying a definitive interpretation; just too much is uncertain about it.
Congrats on the addition to the family.
I don’t believe in the supernatural, but I think if “supernatural” things did exist, the explanation wouldnt be that they defied nature, it would be an aspect of nature people don’t understand. If there did exist a being willing the behavior of every subatomic particle (stealing a line from a cheesy movie), that being should be able to accomplish anything. I know you don’t believe such a being exists and I have my doubts. But looking at it that way makes me more sympathetic to the idea of a “miracle.”
I don’t believe in miracles either. I have seen amazing things that I can’t explain happen…. just as most of us have.For example, a couple of things I attribute my amazing good health to at 82….. going on 83 is (1) good genes and (2) a belief that our own bodies have capabilities we are not even aware of. Mind over matter sometimes is the explanation. For example, I am determined to be healthy and do everything I possibly can to enhance that with good healthy food and lots of exercise. That doesn’t guarantee good health but staying slim and getting good food and exercise make the positive outcome more likely.
Also, I have seen a person recover from a terminal illness because they actually believed with all their heart and mind that it was possible because they were prayed for . That’s highly unlikely and not even provable but its the explanation they give.
And….Congratulations on the new grandson!
Enjoy that grandson! Nothing better
Congratulations Dr. Ehrman. I hope Elliot Benjamin Ehrman-Matson has the same desire to search for truth as his grandpa. All the best to you and your family.