Lesson Aim

1. Lesson Aim To explore what St. Thomas Aquinas understands by the term ‘miracle’.

2. Thomas Aquinas: Miracles • Summa Theologica: “Those things…which are done by divine power apart from the order generally followed in things”(cited in Hick). • Aquinas identified three categories of miracle under his definition:

3. ‘Miracles of the highest rank are those in which something is done by God that nature can never do’. Aquinas cited the example of the sun going backwards in the sky (Joshua 10).

4. 2. ‘Miracles of the second rank are those in which God does something which nature can do, but not in that sequence or connection’. By this, Aquinas meant that walking is an act of nature, but it is an act of God if someone who uses a wheelchair should be able to walk again.

5. 3. ‘A miracle of the third order is something done by God, which is usually done by theoperation of nature, but is done in this case without the working of natural principles, as when one is cured by divine power of a fever, in itself naturally curable, or when it rains without any working of the elements.’ For example, Aquinas suggested that a cure that doctors considered impossible without the benefit of time and care could be considered miraculous.

6. Difficulties • “Interventionist” God – who acts on occasions, quite randomly. • Brian Davies: Contrary to classic theistic view. • Do we know all the natural laws? So how do we know if one has been broken or not?

7. None of the definitions that Aquinas gives seems to consider God’s purpose in carrying out the miracles – Swinburne considers these miracles to be entirely arbitrary. There appears to be little religious significance in them – nothing is revealed about God’s nature.

8. Past Question: a) Examine the way in which one philosopher understands the term ‘miracle’.