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Recent writings on the Miracles
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2024
Extract
Any study of any aspect of the life of the historical Jesus is complicated because of the fact that the gospel accounts of his ministry are interpretations and applications of what he did and said rather than straightforward accounts of his life and activity. Add to this the fact that many Christians today seriously question the possibility of miracles and either dismiss them as fables or explain them as the result of Jesus’ extraordinary psychic gifts, and one becomes aware of the difficulty and delicacy of the task of drawing any conclusions about the miracles, about their historicity, and about their place in modern Christianity. Yet the complexity and sensitivity of the topic has not daunted the exegetes, and recent years have given us a constant flow of books and articles on the miracles. The aim of the present essay is not to attempt the impossible task of reviewing this immense body of literature, but to draw attention to some approaches and trends in modem miracle studies and to examine at some length a few of the more recent books. We will pay special attention to the historical questions raised by the miracle stories, and we treat only of the synoptic miracles, omitting those of John which give rise to somewhat different problems.
One of the striking things about the works of recent writers on the miracles is the lessening of emphasis on the apologetic value of the mighty deeds of Jesus. Not that these writers would deny the teaching of Vatican I that the miracles are most sure signs of divine revelation (cf DS 3009). Nor would they despise the assertion of Vatican II that ‘the miracles of Jesus also confirm that the kingdom has arrived on earth’ (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church no. 5). But they do not look upon the miracles as events praeter, extra, or contra naturam which prove the divinity of Jesus and the validity of his claim.
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- Copyright © 1975 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers
References
1 On the Johannine miracles see, for example, Jürgen Becker, New Testament Studies, 16 (1969‐70), 130‐148; Brown, R. E., The Gospel According to John (1‐12) (Anchor Bible), London: Chapman, 1971, pp. 525‐531Google Scholar.
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12 op. cit. pp. 18‐39: the above quotations are from pp. 19, 32 and 39.
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19 Cf., e.g., R. Latourelle, Gregorianum, 54 (1973), 225‐262; F. Lentzen‐Deis, Theologie und Philosophie, 43 (1968), 400‐402.
20 See Mussner, The Miracles of Jesus, pp. 41‐44; Sabourin, Biblical Theology Bulletin, 1 (1971), 71f.
21 On the question of the need for such honesty and openness see M. Seckler, Plädoyer für Ehrlichkeit im Umgang mit Wundern, in Theologische Quartal‐schrift (Tubingen), 151 (1971), 662‐684Google Scholar.
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