Miracles, The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts Volume 1
226.706 KEE /1//1
Keener Craig S., ;
Miracles : The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts / Keener, Craig S. . Volume 1. — Grand Rapids, Michigan : Baker Academic, ©2011. —
ДКД 226.706
ДКД 226.706
Зміст:
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
The Origin of This Book
The Subjects of This Book
Limitations
The Problem
Closing Comments
Part 1: The Ancient Evidence
1. Opening Questions about Early Christian Miracle Claims
Evidence for Jesus’s Miracles
Miracle Claims for Jesus’s Early Movement
Methodological Questions
2. Ancient Miracle Claims outside Christianity
Gentile Greco-Roman Miracle Accounts
Healing Sanctuaries
Pagan Miracle Workers
Early Jewish Miracle Workers
An Authenticating Function of Miracles
Conclusion
3. Comparison of Early Christian and Other Ancient Miracle Accounts
Differences between Early Christian and Most Pagan Miracles
Comparison of Early Christian and Jewish Miracle Accounts
Rabbinic Miracles
Eve’s Detailed Comparisons
Parallels and the Authenticity Question
Healing Sages?
The Supernatural Element Not a Sufficient Parallel
Celestial Prodigies
Conclusion
Part 2: Are Miracles Possible?
4. Antisupernaturalism as an Authenticity Criterion?
Ancient Skepticism toward Miracles
Polybius’s Critique of Sensationalist Historians
Signs in Critical Historians
Ancient Plausibility Structures
Modern Western Skepticism toward Supernatural Phenomena
Our Cultural Limitations
Have We Privileged a Particular Western Worldview?
Conclusion
5. Hume and the Philosophic Questions
What This Chapter Will Address
The Nature of the Questions
Hume’s Argument from Nature
Hume and the Philosophy of Science
Does Science Pronounce on Theology?
Hume, Violations of Natural Law, and Theism
Nature versus Hume
Hume’s Antitheistic Starting Assumptions
Hume’s Epistemology regarding Miracles
Hume on Testimony
Consequences of Such Epistemic Demands for Other Disciplines
Hume versus Normal Logic regarding Witnesses
Rejecting Unusual and Rare Events?
The Theistic Factor
The Circularity of Hume’s Approach
Other Noninductive Elements in Hume’s Approach
Hume’s Critics
Conclusion
6. Developing Hume’s Skepticism toward Miracles
Consequences and Problems of the Humean Consensus
Effects in Philosophy
Effects in Religion and Theology
A Sound Approach?
God Acting in the Natural World?
God Acting in History?
History and Theory
The Religious Factor
Incompatible Religions Claim Miracles?
Disbelief in Miracles as a Dogmatic Assumption?
The Shift in the Western Worldview
A Shift among Scholars
Do Modern People Believe in Miracles?
Conclusion
Part 3: Miracle Accounts beyond Antiquity
7. Majority World Perspectives
Multicultural Miracle Claims and Ethnocentric Prejudices
A Multicultural Approach
Cross-Cultural Readings
Ethnocentric Objections to Miracles
Hume’s Explicit Ethnocentrism
Majority World Voices
Learning from Other Cultures
Widespread Pentecostal Claims in the Majority World
Such Claims Not Limited to Pentecostals
Limitations in My Approach
Studies of Extraordinary Claims in Non-Christian Movements
Limitations of Reports
The Use of Examples
Diverse Christian Supernatural Claims
One Theological Caveat
Conclusion
8. Examples from Asia
Limitations of My Examples
The Philippines
Southeast Asia
South Asia
India
Interviews with Some Indian Ministers
Sri Lanka and Nepal
Indonesia
South Korea
The Pacific
Healings and China
Examples
Answering More Skeptical Perspectives
Visiting Some Chinese Pastors
One Example in 1930s China
Conclusion
9. Examples from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean
Examples in Africa
Healing in Mainline Churches Various Sample Claims from East and Central Africa
Various Sample Claims from West and Southern Africa
Examples in Nigeria
Examples in Mozambique
Congolese Evangelists
Papa Jacques’s Experiences
Mama Jeanne and Others
Examples in Latin America and the Caribbean
Various Cases from South America
Accounts from Cuba
Various Other Latin American and Caribbean Examples
Ecuador
Chile
Conclusion
10. Supernaturalism in Earlier Christian History
Perspectives from the Premodern World
The Patristic Era
The Medieval Period
The Reformers’ Reaction
Perspectives from the Earlier Modern West
Polemic against Miracles
Protestant Healing Reports in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Lourdes and Roman Catholic Healing in the Nineteenth Century
Protestant Healing in the Nineteenth Century
Criticisms and Moderation
Gender and Healings
Supernaturalist Christian Claims in the Early Twentieth-Century West
Dorothy Kerin
James Moore Hickson
Healings in Other Traditional Churches
Early Pentecostalism
Early Pentecostal Testimonies
Early Pentecostal Figures
Conclusion
11. Supernatural Claims in the Recent West
Claims Are Now Common
Samples of Individual Healing Reports
One Modern Healing Narrative
Scientists, Journalists, and Doctors
- Pentecostals and Other Churches
Examples from Interviews in My Circle
Anna’s and Cindy’s Stories
Accounts from Students and Colleagues
Yesenia’s Story
Some Other Individual Healing Claims
Western Healing Ministries in the Past Half Century
Why Include Such Accounts?
T. L. Osborn
Kathryn Kuhlman
Doctors and Kuhlman
Father Ralph DiOrio
Some Less-Conspicuous Ministries
Various Examples from Roman Catholic Sources
Third Wave and Other Recent Sources Emphasizing Healing
Examples from the Vineyard Movement
Global Awakening and New Wine
Examples from Some Charismatic/Third Wave Churches
Listing Some Further Claims
Conclusion
12. Blindness, Inability to Walk, Death, and Nature: Some Dramatic Reports
Why This Chapter’s Focus?
Healing of Blindness
Healings of Blindness in History
Contemporary Reports of Healings of Blindness in Africa
Contemporary Reports of Healings of Blindness in Asia
Contemporary Reports of Healings of Blindness in Latin America and the West
Healing of Those Unable to Walk
Earlier Reports
- Contemporary Reports of Healings in Africa and Asia
Contemporary Reports of Healings in the Western Hemisphere
Raising the Dead
Biblical and Non-Christian Accounts
Alternative Explanations?
Earlier Accounts
Raising Accounts in Africa
Raising of My Wife’s Sister
Mama Jeanne’s Accounts
Other Accounts from Congo
Raising Accounts in Asia
Raising Accounts in the Philippines Raising Accounts in Latin America and the West
Reports from Physicians
Nature Miracles
Limits of Naturalistic Explanations
Limits of Ancient Analogies
Subsequent Analogies
Recent Analogies in Asia and the Pacific
Recent Analogies in Africa
Accounts in the Western Hemisphere
Conclusion
Анотація:
Most modern prejudice against biblical miracle reports depends on David Hume's argument that uniform human experience precluded 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. 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.