Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts

Most modern prejudice against biblical miracle reports depends on David Hume's argument that uniform human experience precludes miracles. Yet current research shows that human experience is far from uniform. In fact, hundreds of millions of people today claim to have experienced miracles. Respected New Testament scholar Craig Keener argues that it is time to rethink Hume's argument in light of the contemporary evidence available to us. This wide-ranging and meticulously researched two-volume study presents the most thorough current defense of the credibility of the miracle reports in the Gospels and Acts. Drawing on claims from a range of global cultures and taking a multidisciplinary approach to the topic, Keener suggests that many miracle accounts throughout history and from contemporary times are best explained as genuine divine acts, lending credence to the biblical miracle reports.

Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1: The Ancient Evidence
• 1. Opening Questions about Early Christian Miracle Claims
• 2. Ancient Miracle Claims outside Christianity
• 3. Comparison of Early Christian and Other Ancient Miracle Accounts
• Part 2: Are Miracles Possible?
• 4. Antisupernaturalism as an Authenticity Criterion?
• 5. Hume and the Philosophic Questions
• 6. Developing Hume's Skepticism toward Miracles
• Part 3: Miracle Accounts beyond Antiquity
• 7. Majority World Perspectives
• 8. Examples from Asia
• 9. Examples from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean
• 10. Supernaturalism in Earlier Christian History
• 11. Supernatural Claims in the Recent West
• 12. Blindness, Inability to Walk, Death, and Nature: Some Dramatic Reports
• Part 4: Proposed Explanations
• 13. Nonsupernatural Causes
• 14. Biased Standards?
• 15. More Extranormal Cases
• Conclusion
• Concluding Unscientific Postscript
• Appendixes
• Indexes