THE ADJUDICATION OF MIRACLES: RETHINKING THE CRITERIA OF HISTORICITY
Michael R. Licona and Jan G. van der Watt
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, Vol. 65, No. 1 (2009)
Abstract
This is the second article in a series of two that discusses whether historians are within their professional rights to investigate miracle claims. In the first, I made a positive case that they are and then proceeded to examine two major arguments in support of a negative verdict to the issue: the principle of analogy and antecedent probability. I argued that neither should deter historians from issuing a positive verdict on miracle claims when certain criteria are met and the event is the best explanation of the relevant historical bedrock. In this second article, I examine three additional objections commonly appealed to by biblical scholars: the theological objection, lack of consensus and miracle claims in multiple religions. The resurrection of Jesus is occasionally cited as an example.
Introduction
The question as to whether historians are within their professional rights when adjudicating on the historicity of miracle claims is a discussion taking place even outside of the community of biblical scholars (Licona 2009). In my previous article, I also made a positive case that historians are within their professional rights to adjudicate on the historicity of miracle claims. I defined miracle as an event in history for which natural explanations are inadequate and proposed that we may identify a miracle when the event (a) is highly unlikely to have occurred, given the circumstances and/or natural law and (b) occurred in an environment or context charged with religious significance. When these criteria are met and the reported event is the best explanation of the relevant historical bedrock, the historian is warranted in affirming that a miracle has occurred. I then proceeded to examine two major arguments in support of a negative verdict to the issue: the principle of analogy and antecedent probability. I argued that neither should deter historians from issuing a positive verdict on miracle claims when the above criteria are met and the event is the best explanation of the relevant historical bedrock. In this second article, I will examine three additional common objections to historians adjudicating on miracle claims: the theological objection, lack of consensus and miracle claims in multiple religions.
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