B) Different definitions of Miracles

Aquinas

• Said that a miracle is not contrary to nature because the hidden potentials in nature that make miracles possible have been placed there by God
• Believed a miracle had a 'divine cause'- not a normal part of nature. God alone can do miracles (he is un-created)
• Identifies 3 kinds of miracles:
• 1. God does something nature could never do (e.g. sun moves backwards)
• 2. God does something nature can do, but not in this order (e.g. coming back from the dead)
• 3. God does something the workings of nature usually does, but without the operation of the principles of nature (e.g. cures cancer instantly)
• In all 3 God is active
• "A miracle is...that which has a divine cause, not that whose cause a human person fails to understand"

Holland

• Argues that a miracle does not require breaking the laws of nature or God's intervention, but rather can only be spoken about against a religious background, where it is taken as a sign
• An interpretation of an ordinary event is what makes a miracle- a person must interpret the event as a miracle themselves

Hume

• In his 'Enquiry concerning human understanding', Hume defines a miracle as 'a violation of…