Wiles on Miracles

Wiles on Miracles

1. Modern Theologian

   • Argued that any occasion where God intervened with the natural order to help individuals or groups would raise issues of consistency and fairness
     • For Wiles, the goodness of God and the existence of miracles were two incompatible ideas
       • God chooses to be biased; ignoring those with the greatest need
     • Arbitrary
     • An action based on random choice
     • Partisan
       • A strong supporter of a certain party or group, often in times of war

2. God is the creator and sustainer of the world

   • There was in effect a single miracle of creation
     • God's creation was good and did not require intervention in the form of specific matters
     • 'The world as a whole is a single act of God'
       • Wiles, The Remaking of Christian Doctrine
       • Some critics of Wile's view have said this is a form of Deism not theism
         • The belief that God creates the world but is then separate and uninvolved in its continuing affairs

3. God put in place certain natural laws

   • given these natural laws, miraculous events would be very rare by definition
     • Used examples of how God never intervened in Auschwitz or Hiroshima
     • Uses example of how Jesus turns water into wine; it seems a bizarre arbitrary whim of God

4. Strengths

   • Wile's view may appeal to educated believers as it allows them to believe in God and uphold scientific laws
     • It may be seen as solving the problem of evil
       • God does not intervene either because he cannot or because he is willingly bound by the laws of nature
       • Allows believers to reinterpret the idea of prayer
         • It is not about presenting wish lists to God that make God act
           • It is rather about allowing an individual to connect to God's will

5. Weaknesses

   • What Wiles is suggesting does not accord with traditional religious teaching about God
     • It requires the claim that believers have completely misunderstood the notion of miracles for almost 2000 years
     • To suggest that miracle stories show God's love and power and loses impact if God is not able to intervene in the world
       • It is not appropriate to make God conform to human rationality
         • God may act in ways that are beyond our human reasoning