Miracle
Part of Virgin Mary on national television.[1] |
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by
Informally, English-speakers often use the word miracle to characterise any beneficial event that is statistically unlikely but not contrary to the
A true miracle would, by definition, be a non-natural phenomenon, leading many writers to dismiss miracles as physically impossible (that is, requiring violation of established laws of physics within their domain of validity) or impossible to confirm by their nature (because all possible physical mechanisms can never be ruled out). The former position is expressed (for instance) by
Definitions
The word miracle is usually used to describe any beneficial event that is physically impossible or impossible to confirm by nature.[2] Wayne Grudem defines a miracle as "a less common kind of God's activity in which he arouses people's awe and wonder and bears witness to himself."[5] A deistic perspective of God's relation to the world defines a miracle as a direct intervention of God into the world.[6][7]
Naturalistic explanations
A miracle may be false information or simply a fictional story, rather than something that truly happened. A miracle experience may be due to
Law of truly large numbers
Statistically improbable events are sometimes called miracles. For instance, when three classmates coincidentally meet in a different country decades after having left school, they may consider this miraculous. However, a colossal number of events happen every moment on Earth; thus, extremely unlikely coincidences also happen every moment. Events considered impossible are therefore not so – they are just increasingly rare and dependent on the number of individual events. British mathematician
Supernatural explanations
A miracle is a phenomenon not explained by known
Philosophical explanations
Aristotelian and Neo-Aristotelian
The
Baruch Spinoza
In his Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, the philosopher Spinoza claims that miracles are merely lawlike events of whose causes we are ignorant.[14] We should not treat them as having no cause or of having a cause immediately available. Rather the miracle is for combating the ignorance it entails, like a political project.[clarification needed]
David Hume
According to the philosopher David Hume, a miracle is "a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent".[4] The crux of his argument is this: "No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact which it endeavours to establish." By Hume's definition, a miracle goes against our regular experience of how the universe works. As miracles are single events, the evidence for them is always limited and we experience them rarely. On the basis of experience and evidence, the probability that miracle occurred is always less than the probability that it did not occur. As it is rational to believe what is more probable, we are not supposed to have a good reason to believe that a miracle occurred.[15]
Friedrich Schleiermacher
According to the
Søren Kierkegaard
The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, following Hume and Johann Georg Hamann, a Humean scholar, agrees with Hume's definition of a miracle as a transgression of a law of nature,[17] but Kierkegaard, writing as his pseudonym Johannes Climacus, regards any historical reports to be less than certain, including historical reports of miracles, as all historical knowledge is always doubtful and open to approximation.[18]
James Keller
James Keller states that the "claim that God has worked a miracle implies that God has singled out certain persons for some benefit which many others do not receive implies that God is unfair."[19]
Religious views
According to a 2011 poll by the Pew Research Center, more than 90 percent of evangelical Christians believe miracles still take place.[20] While Christians see God as sometimes intervening in human activities, Muslims see Allah as a direct cause of all events. "God's overwhelming closeness makes it easy for Muslims to admit the miraculous in the world."[21]
Buddhism
The Haedong Kosung-jon of Korea (Biographies of High Monks) records that King Beopheung of Silla had desired to promulgate Buddhism as the state religion. However, officials in his court opposed him. In the fourteenth year of his reign, Beopheung's "Grand Secretary", Ichadon, devised a strategy to overcome court opposition. Ichadon schemed with the king, convincing him to make a proclamation granting Buddhism official state sanction using the royal seal. Ichadon told the king to deny having made such a proclamation when the opposing officials received it and demanded an explanation. Instead, Ichadon would confess and accept the punishment of execution, for what would quickly be seen as a forgery. Ichadon prophesied to the king that at his execution a wonderful miracle would convince the opposing court faction of Buddhism's power. Ichadon's scheme went as planned, and the opposing officials took the bait. According to legend when Ichadon was executed on the 15th day of the 9th month in 527, his prophecy was fulfilled; the earth shook, the sun was darkened, beautiful flowers rained from the sky, his severed head flew to the sacred Geumgang mountains, and milk instead of blood sprayed 100 feet in the air from his beheaded corpse. The omen was accepted by the opposing court officials as a manifestation of heaven's approval, and Buddhism was made the state religion in 527 CE.[22]
The
Miracles play an important role in the veneration of Buddhist relics in Southern Asia. Thus, Somawathie Stupa in Sri Lanka is an increasingly popular site of pilgrimage and tourist destination thanks to multiple reports about miraculous rays of light, apparitions and modern legends, which often have been fixed in photographs and movies.
Christianity
The gospels record three sorts of miracles performed by Jesus:
Jesus explains in the New Testament that miracles are performed by faith in God. "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'move from here to there' and it will move." (Gospel of Matthew 17:20). After Jesus returned to heaven, the Book of Acts records the disciples of Jesus praying to God to grant that miracles be done in his name for the purpose of convincing onlookers that he is alive. (Acts 4:29–31).
Other passages mention false prophets who will be able to perform miracles to deceive "if possible, even the elect of Christ" (Matthew 24:24). 2 Thessalonians 2:9 says, "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved." Revelation 13:13,14 says, "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." Revelation 16:14 says, "For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Revelation 19:20 says, "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." These passages indicate that signs, wonders, and miracles are not necessarily committed by God. These miracles not committed by God are labeled as false(pseudo) miracles though which could mean that they are deceptive in nature and are not the same as the true miracles committed by God.
In
Since the
There have been numerous claims of miracles by people of most Christian denominations, including but not limited to
Catholic Church
The
The Catholic Church has listed several events as miracles, some of them occurring in modern times. Before a person can be accepted as a saint, they must be posthumously confirmed to have performed two miracles. In the procedure of
Among the more notable miracles approved by the church are several
According to 17th century documents, a young Spanish man's leg was miraculously restored to him in 1640 after having been amputated two and a half years earlier.[38]
Another miracle approved by the church is the
In addition to these, the Catholic Church attributes miraculous causes to many otherwise inexplicable phenomena on a case-by-case basis. Only after all other possible explanations have been asserted to be inadequate will the church assume divine intervention and declare the miracle worthy of veneration by their followers. The church does not, however, enjoin belief in any extra-Scriptural miracle as an article of faith or as necessary for salvation.
Thomas Aquinas, a prominent Doctor of the Church, divided miracles into three types in his Summa contra Gentiles:
Things that are at times divinely accomplished, apart from the generally established order in things, are customarily called miracles; for we admire with some astonishment a certain event when we observe the effect but do not know its cause. And since one and the same cause is at times known to some people and unknown to others, the result is that of several who see an effect at the same time, some are moved to admiring astonishment, while others are not. For instance, the astronomer is not astonished when he sees an eclipse of the sun, for he knows its cause, but the person who is ignorant of this science must be amazed, for he ignores the cause. And so, a certain event is wondrous to one person, but not so to another. So, a thing that has a completely hidden cause is wondrous in an unqualified way, and this the name, miracle, suggests; namely, what is of itself filled with admirable wonder, not simply in relation to one person or another. Now, absolutely speaking, the cause hidden from every man is God. In fact, we proved above that no man in the present state of life can grasp His essence intellectually. Therefore, those things must properly be called miraculous which are done by divine power apart from the order generally followed in things.
Now, there are various degrees and orders of these miracles. Indeed, the highest rank among miracles is held by those events in which something is done by God which nature never could do. For example, that two bodies should be coincident; that the sun reverse its course, or stand still; that the sea open up and offer a way through which people may pass. And even among these an order may be observed. For the greater the things that God does are, and the more they are removed from the capacity of nature, the greater the miracle is. Thus, it is more miraculous for the sun to reverse its course than for the sea to be divided.
Then, the second degree among miracles is held by those events in which God does something which nature can do, but not in this order. It is a work of nature for an animal to live, to see, and to walk; but for it to live after death, to see after becoming blind, to walk after paralysis of the limbs, this nature cannot do—but God at times does such works miraculously. Even among this degree of miracles a gradation is evident, according as what is done is more removed from the capacity of nature.
Now, the third degree of miracles occurs when God does what is usually done by the working of nature, but without the operation of the principles of nature. For example, a person may be cured by divine power from a fever which could be cured naturally, and it may rain independently of the working of the principles of nature.[40]
Evangelicalism
For a majority of
Hinduism
In Hinduism, miracles are focused on episodes of liberation of the spirit.[48] A key example is the revelation of Krishna to Arjuna, wherein Krishna persuades Arjuna to rejoin the battle against his cousins by briefly and miraculously giving Arjuna the power to see the true scope of the Universe, and its sustainment within Krishna, which requires divine vision. This is a typical situation in Hindu mythology wherein "wondrous acts are performed for the purpose of bringing spiritual liberation to those who witness or read about them."[48]
Hindu sages have criticized both expectation and reliance on miracles as cheats, situations where people have sought to earn a benefit without doing the work necessary to merit it.
Islam
In the
To defend the possibility of miracles and God's omnipotence against the encroachment of the independent secondary causes, some medieval
Judaism
Descriptions of miracles (Hebrew Ness, נס) appear in the
During the first century BCE, a variety of religious movements and splinter groups developed amongst the Jews in
There are people who obscure all miracles by explaining them in terms of the laws of nature. When these heretics who do not believe in miracles disappear and faith increases in the world, then the Mashiach will come. For the essence of the Redemption primarily depends on this – that is, on faith
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
Most
Criticism
Thomas Paine, one of the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution, wrote "All the tales of miracles, with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for impostors to preach and fools to believe."[57]
American Revolutionary War patriot Ethan Allen wrote, "In those parts of the world where learning and science have prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in those parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue."[61]
Robert Ingersoll wrote, "Not 20 people were convinced by the reported miracles of Christ, and yet people of the nineteenth century were coolly asked to be convinced on hearsay by miracles which those who are supposed to have seen them refused to credit."[62]
Elbert Hubbard, American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher, wrote "A miracle is an event described by those to whom it was told by people who did not see it."[63]
Biologist Richard Dawkins has criticised the belief in miracles as a subversion of Occam's razor.[64]
Mathematician Charles Hermite, in a discourse upon the world of mathematical truths and the physical world, stated that "The synthesis of the two is revealed partially in the marvellous correspondence between abstract mathematics on the one hand and all the branches of physics on the other".[65]
Baden Powell, an English mathematician and Church of England priest, stated that if God is a lawgiver, then a "miracle" would break the lawful edicts that had been issued at Creation. Therefore, a belief in miracles would be entirely atheistic.[66]
See also
- A Course in Miracles – 1976 book by American Helen Schucman
- Act of God – Natural disaster outside human control, for which no person is at fault
- Cessationism– Christian theological dispute
- Deus ex machina – Contrived device to resolve the plot of a dramatic work
- Lourdes effect – Skeptical theory regarding the ambiguity of miracles
- Magic and religion
- Miracles (book) – Book written by C. S. Lewis
- Miracles of Joseph Smith – aspect of history
- Natural Supernaturalism – Philosophical concept developed by Thomas Carlyle
- Our Lady of Lourdes – A title of Mary, mother of Jesus
- Our Lady of Medjugorje – Alleged visions of Mary, mother of Jesus
- Paranormal – Purported phenomena beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding
- Pieter De Rudder – Lourdes miracle (1822-1898)
- Relic – Object of religious significance from the past
- Royal touch – Healing power supposedly possessed by monarchs
- Scientific skepticism – Questioning of claims lacking empirical evidence
- Signs and wonders – Experiences that are perceived to be miraculous
- Snake oil – Euphemism for false advertising
- Spontaneous remission – Diminution or abatement of a disease over time, without formal treatment ("medical miracles")
- Superstitions in Muslim societies – Folk belief in Islam
Notes and references
- ISBN 1-59337-713-4.
- ^ a b One dictionary defines "Miracle" as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency."
- ISBN 1-55850-646-2.
- ^ a b Miracles Archived 2019-11-22 at the Wayback Machine on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- ^ Grudem, Wayne (1994). Systematic Theology.
- ^ "Deists Believe in One God Who is Impersonal". Archived from the original on 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
- ^ "Definition of Miracles". Bible.org. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
- ^ "The Salvia divinorum FAQ". SageWisdom.org. July 30, 2012. Archived from the original on August 16, 2001. Retrieved August 26, 2007.
Those who think of the salvia experience in religious, spiritual, or mystical terms may speak of such things as enlightenment, satori, and "cleansing the doors of perception."
- ^ Adamson, Sophia; Metzner, Ralph. "The Nature of the MDMA Experience and Its Role in Healing, Psychotherapy, and Spiritual Practice". maps.org. MAPS. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
- from the original on 2022-12-21. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- ^ Adamson, Peter. "The Theology of Aristotle". stanford.edu. Archived from the original on 11 June 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
- ^ "Aristotle on the Existence of God". logicmuseum.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
- ISBN 978-90-04-32873-0. Archivedfrom the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
- ^ Benedictus de Spinoza. "Chapter 6: Of Miracles". Thelogico-Political Treatise. translated by Robert Willis. Archived from the original on 2014-09-12. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). documents.routledge-interactive.s3.amazonaws.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Second Speech: The Nature of Religion". On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despirers. London: Paul, Trench, Trubner. 1893. p. 23.
- S2CID 170254469.
- ^ Kierkegaard on Miracles Archived 2010-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Keller, James. "A Moral Argument against Miracles", Faith and Philosophy. vol. 12, no 1. Jan 1995. 54–78
- ^ "What Do the World's Religions Say About Miracles?". National Geographic Channel. 2016-04-28. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
- ^ The Cambridge Companion to Miracle. Cambridge. 2011.
- ^ Korea: a religious history, James Huntley Grayson, p. 34
- ^ Keene, Donald. Twenty Plays of the Nō Theater. Columbia University Press, New York, 1970. Page 238.
- ^ Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar. The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco. 1998. Introduction, p. 1–40
- Tom Wright's John for Everyone
- ^ Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire, AD 100–400 1984:23, 108.
- ^ MacMullen 1984:40.
- ^ Quoted in MacMullen 1984:22.
- ^ "Are Miracles Logically Impossible?". Come Reason Ministries, Convincing Christianity. Archived from the original on 2007-11-30. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
- ^ ""Miracles are not possible," some claim. Is this true?". ChristianAnswers.net. Archived from the original on 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
- ^ Paul K. Hoffman (Spring 1999). "A Jurisprudential Analysis Of Hume's "In Principal" Argument Against Miracles" (PDF). Christian Apologetics Journal. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
- ^ Capps, Donald (2010). "Jesus the village psychiatrist: a summary". HTS Theological Studies. 66 (1) – via Scielo.
- ^ Viljoen, Francois P. (2014). "Jesus healing the leper and the Purity Law in the Gospel of Matthew". In die Skriflig. 48 (2) – via Scielo.
- ^ Sweeten-Shults, Lana (2018). "Professor talks nanotechnology, power of Scripture". GCU News. Archived from the original on December 12, 2023.
- ^ Van Biema, David (10 April 1995). "Modern Miracles Have Strict Rules". Pathfinder.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007.
- ^ Falasca, Stefania (2004). "The necessity of miracles". 30giorni.it. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
- ^ "Pope Benedict Paves Way to Beatification of John Paul II". bbc.news.co.uk. 14 January 2011. Archived from the original on 15 January 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
- Messori, Vittorio(2000): Il miracolo. Indagine sul più sconvolgente prodigio mariano. – Rizzoli: Bur.
- ^ Velankanni shrine miracle Archived 2011-01-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Aquinas, St. Thomas. Contra Gentiles, lib. III cap. 101. Archived from the original on 2009-11-02.
- ^ Sébastien Fath, Du ghetto au réseau: Le protestantisme évangélique en France, 1800–2005, Édition Labor et Fides, Genève, 2005, p. 28
- ^ James Innell Packer, Thomas C. Oden, One Faith: The Evangelical Consensus, InterVarsity Press, USA, 2004, p. 104
- ^ Franck Poiraud, Les évangéliques dans la France du XXIe siècle, Editions Edilivre, France, 2007, p. 69, 73, 75
- ^ George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 1069
- ^ Cecil M. Robeck, Jr, Amos Yong, The Cambridge Companion to Pentecostalism, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2014, p. 138
- ^ Béatrice Mohr et Isabelle Nussbaum, Rock, miracles & Saint-Esprit Archived 2020-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, rts.ch, Switzerland, April 21, 2011
- ^ Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 212
- ^ ISBN 978-0-81479-483-8.
- ^ Encyclopedia of the Quran
- ^ a b A.J. Wensinck, Muʿd̲j̲iza, Encyclopedia of Islam
- ^ Robert G. Mourison, The Portrayal of Nature in a Medieval Quran Commentary, Studia Islamica, 2002
- ^ The heirs of the prophet: charisma and religious authority in Shi'ite Islam By Liyakatali Takim
- ^ "SAINTS AND MIRACLES". Archived from the original on 2010-02-27. Retrieved 2010-05-06.
- ^ Mishnah Ta'anit 3:8 Hebrew text at Mechon-Mamre Archived 2010-06-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Nosson of Breslov, Rebbe. Kitzur Likutey Moharan (Abridged Likutey Moharan) Vol. 1 (Kindle 414–417). Breslov Research Institute
- ^ The encyclopedia of Jewish myth, magic and mysticism, Geoffrey W. Dennis, p. 49
- OCLC 459072720
- ^ Jeremy Kosselak (November 1998). The Exaltation of a Reasonable Deity: Thomas Jefferson's Bible of Christianity. (Communicated by: Dr. Patrick Furlong). Indiana University South Bend – Department of History. IUSB.edu Archived 2007-02-08 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 2007-02-19
- ^ R.P. Nettelhorst. Notes on the Founding Fathers and the Separation of Church and State. Quartz Hill School of Theology. Theology.edu Archived 2017-10-16 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2007-02-20.
- ^ Letter to William Short (31 October 1819), published in "The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes", Federal Edition, Paul Leicester Ford, ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904, Vol. 12, pp. 141–142.
- ^ Ethan Allen, Reason, the Only Oracle of Man, 1784
- New York Times. April 24, 1882. Archivedfrom the original on 2014-01-04. Retrieved 2014-01-03.
- ^ Elbert Hubbard, The Philistine (1909)
- ^ Richard Dawkins. The God Delusion
- ISBN 978-0-19-503085-3. Archivedfrom the original on 2022-07-21. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 500
General references and books
- Brown, Colin. Miracles and the Critical Mind. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984.
- ISBN 0-7181-3430-3.
- Chavda, Mahesh. Only Love Can Make a Miracle. Charlotte: Mahesh Chavda Ministries, 1990.
- Bontrager, Krista, "It's a Miracle! Or, is it?", Reasons.org Archived 2006-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
- Eisen, Robert (1995). Gersonides on Providence, Covenant, and the Chosen People. State University of New York Press.
- Goodman, Lenn E. (1985). Rambam: Readings in the Philosophy of Moses Maimonides. Gee Bee Tee.
- Humphreys, Colin J. Miracles of Exodus. Harper, San Francisco, 2003.
- Kellner, Menachem (1986). Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought. Oxford University Press.
- Lewis, C.S. Miracles: A Preliminary Study. New York, Macmillan Co., 1947.
- Moule, C. F. D. (ed.). Miracles: Cambridge Studies in their Philosophy and History. London, A.R. Mowbray 1966, ©1965 (Survey of Biblical miracles as well).
- Twelftree, Graham. Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical and Theological Study. IVP, 1999.
- Woodward, Kenneth L. (2000). The Book of Miracles. New York: ISBN 0684823934.
- Keener, Craig S. (2011). Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. OCLC 699760418.
Further reading
- Ton Bersee On the Meaning of 'Miracle' in Christianity. An Evaluation of the Current Miracle Debate and a Proposal of a Balanced Hermeneutical Approach, Peeters Publishers, 2021
- Stephen Brogan The Royal Touch in Early Modern England: Politics, Medicine and Sin, Royal Historical Society, 2015
- H. A. Drake A Century of Miracles: Christians, Pagans, Jews and the Supernatural, 312–410, Oxford University Press, 2017 ISBN 978-0199367412
- ISBN 0-87975-817-1.
- Robert Knapp The Dawn of Christianity: People and Gods in a Time of Magic and Miracles, Profile books, Great Britain, 2017 ISBN 978-1781252079
- Marvin Meyer and Richard Smith Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power Princeton University Press, 1999
- D. Michaelides (editor) Medicine and Healing in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Oxbow Books, 2014
- Joe Nickell Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions & Healing Cures, Prometheus Books, 1997
- William A. Nolen Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle, Random House, 1975
- Roy Porter The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity, W.W. Norton & Co., 1997
- James Randi The Faith Healers, Prometheus Books, 1987
- Matthew Rowley and Natasha Hodgson (eds), Miracles, Political Authority and Violence in Medieval and Early Modern History. London, Routledge, 2022
- Saint Francis Xavieras a typical example.
- Rory Roybal Miracles or Magic?. Xulon Press, 2005.
- ISBN 9780549274575.
External links
- Miracles article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Skepdic.com, Skeptic's Dictionary on miracles
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- "Miracle" in the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science.
- The history of thinking about miracles in the West
- Mukto-mona.com, an Indian Skeptic's explanation of miracles: By Yuktibaadi, compiled by Basava Premanand
- Andrew Lang, Psychanalyse-paris.com, "Science and 'Miracles'", The Making of Religion Chapter II, Longmans, Green, and Co., London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 14–38.
- Almut Hoefert (ed.): Miracles, Marvels and Monsters in the Middle Ages. (Living History Books, published in 2016 by the professional portal of the historical sciences in Switzerland, info-clio.ch) [1]
- Hume on Miracles