Of faith and miracles

Of course, I'm prejudiced, but I haven't seen a more insightful analysis of the issue of faith and miracles than Benjamin Blosser's piece on his blog, Ad Limina Apostolorum, since reading C.S. Lewis' book, Miracles, some time ago. Responding to a recent one of my posts in which I offered some remarks by my friend, Kirk Kanzelberger, Benjamin writes:

Dr. Blosser's note on 'faith and miracles' brings to mind one of the most vexing - and for me, frustrating - aspects of modern theological discussion. I refer to the indisputable fact that modern theologians have swallowed the Enlightenment bias against miracles hook, line and sinker. I recently re-read Cardinal Kasper's famed christological tome, 'Jesus the Christ,' which, regrettably, ends up recycling most of these objections. He reduces them to three:

(1) Since God is the author of the 'laws of nature,' and if miracles are defined as 'violations' of the laws of nature, it follows that God would be violating his own laws, which is unseemly.

(2) Testimonies of miracles are inherently incredible; if they happen at all, they are so inexplicable that they can never be accepted on the testimony of another (David Hume's famous objection).

(3) If an empirically verifiable miracle were to occur, it would 'compel' belief in its onlookers. Yet the nature of belief is that it must be free, and cannot be compelled; hence, it would be inappropriate for God to work miracles.

Benjamin considers each of these objections, in turn, subjecting it to an insightful analysis and cogent critique. Well worth reading. Read the rest of his article here.