Miracles and the Modern Mind: A Defense of Biblical Miracles

by Norman Geisler

Publisher:

Baker

, 1992

Overview

Geisler shows how the laws of logic and science speak to the reasonableness of miracles. A dispassionate look at the facts and arguments demands that doubters question their own naturalistic assumptions. Geisler also describes “signs,” “wonders,” and “power,” contrasting what the Bible means by a miracle with bizarre stories of saints, faith healers, and occultists.

In the Logos edition, all Scripture passages in Miracles and the Modern Mind are tagged and appear on mouse-over, and all Scripture passages link to your favorite Bible translation in your library. With Logos’ advanced features, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “miracle” or “science.”

Key Features

• Appendix of supernatural events in the Bible
• Bibliographical references

Product Details

• Title: Miracles and the Modern Mind: A Defense of Biblical Miracles
• Author: Norman L. Geisler
• Publisher: Baker
• Publication Date: 1992
• Pages: 154

About Norman L. Geisler

Norman L. Geisler has taught at university and graduate levels for nearly 50 years and has spoken, traveled, or debated in all 50 states and in 26 countries. He holds a BA and MA from Wheaton College, a ThB from William Tyndale College, and a PhD in philosophy from Loyola University.

After his studies at Wheaton, he became the graduate assistant in the Bible-philosophy department at the college. He has since taught Bible, apologetics and philosophy at Detroit Bible College, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Dallas Theological Seminary, and was the dean of Liberty Center for research and scholarship in Lynchburg, VA. In 1992, he cofounded and served as the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, until 2006. Currently, he is a professor of theology and apologetics at SES.

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Contents

Top Highlights

“Following Augustine, some define a miracle as ‘a portent [that] is not contrary to nature, but contrary to our knowledge of nature.’² Others, following Aquinas, define a miracle in the strong sense of an event that is beyond nature’s power to produce, that only a supernatural power (God) can do. This latter sense is the meaning of miracle as used in this book. In brief, a miracle is a divine intervention into the natural world. It is a supernatural exception to the regular course of the world that would not have occurred otherwise. As Antony Flew puts it, ‘A miracle is something which would never have happened had nature, as it were, been left to its own devices.’³ Natural law describes naturally caused regularities; a miracle is a supernaturally caused singularity.” (Page 14)

“Natural law can be understood as the usual, orderly, and general way that the world operates. It follows, then, that a miracle is an unusual, irregular, specific way in which God acts within the world.” (Page 14)

“‘It may be that the event which we call a miracle was brought about not by the suspension of the laws in ordinary operation, but by the super-addition of something not ordinarily in operation.’⁴ In other words, if a miracle occurs, it would not be a violation or contradiction of the ordinary laws of cause and effect, but rather a new effect produced by the introduction of a supernatural cause.” (Page 14)

“Truth is not, however, determined by majority vote. Hume here commits a kind of consensus gentium.^{25” (Page 29)}

“For Spinoza, miracles are actually impossible; for Hume, they are merely incredible.” (Page 24)

Product Details

• Title: Miracles and the Modern Mind: A Defense of Biblical Miracles
• Author: Norman Geisler
• Publisher: Baker
• Print Publication Date: 1992
• Logos Release Date: 2002
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Miracles; Miracles and modern thought
• ISBNs: 0801038472, 9780801038471
• Resource ID: LLS:42.20.32
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-28T20:20:28Z

About Norman Geisler

Norman L. Geisler (1932– 2019) has taught at the university and graduate level for over 50 years. He holds degrees from Wheaton College, William Tyndale College, and Loyola University, and is known for his scholarly contributions to the subjects of Christian apologetics, theology, and philosophy. 

After his studies, he became Wheaton's graduate assistant in the Bible-Philosophy department. He has since taught theology, apologetics, and philosophy at Detroit Bible College, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Dallas Theological Seminary, and was dean of Liberty Center for Research and Scholarship in Lynchburg, VA.

In 1992, Geisler co-founded Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2007, he co-founded Veritas Evangelical Seminary in Murrieta, California, where he serves as chancellor and distinguished professor of Apologetics.

Geisler is the author or co-author of over 80 books, including the books in the Norman L. Geisler Collection, The Norman L. Geisler Apologetics Library, and his three-volume Systematic Theology.