Lesson 16 –
Is It Reasonable to Believe in Miracles?

With respect to natural causes alone, miracles are improbable or even impossible. But with respect to God, miracles in general are probable given his intentions to work them. Those intentions are made known through time and experience of particular events. And with respect to a particular event, alleged to be a miracle, the probability is determined through a reasonable consideration of specific evidence as to the occurrence of the event, scientific evaluation of the explanation of the event, and theological reflection on the significance of all the findings. Like other matters, an open mind follows the whole body of evidence wherever it may lead.

Course Reading

God and the World | Joseph Ratzinger and Peter Seewald

Summa Theologiae I q. 105, a. 6 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Excerpt from question 105, article 6 of the First Part of the Summa Theologiae:

From each cause there results a certain order to its effects, since every cause is a principle; and so, according to the multiplicity of causes, there results a multiplicity of orders, subjected one to the other, as cause is subjected to cause. Wherefore a higher cause is not subjected to a cause of a lower order; but conversely…

If therefore we consider the order of things depending on the first cause, God cannot do anything against this order; for, if He did so, He would act against His foreknowledge, or His will, or His goodness. But if we consider the order of things depending on any secondary cause, thus God can do something outside such order; for He is not subject to the order of secondary causes; but, on the contrary, this order is subject to Him, as proceeding from Him, not by a natural necessity, but by the choice of His own will; for He could have created another order of things.

Course Listening

Does Science Discredit Faith? | Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

Related videos from earlier in the series

This episode was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this project are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.