Miracles: A Preliminary Study

“Incarnation” is a doctrinal and theological term within Christianity. It refers to the belief that in the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth, God has become a man. More specifically, the second person of the Trinity, referred to in the New Testament as the Son of God or “the Word,” has assumed human nature in the person of Jesus, thus rendering Jesus both fully God and fully human. The usage of the term “incarnation” can refer to the actual event or the process by which this event took place (the miracle linked historically with the beginning of Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus), or more generally to the whole nature of Jesus’s identity and existence as portrayed in the biblical gospels.

The laws of nature are mathematical expressions based on empirical data which describe how the natural systems of our universe operate. They establish the manner of the connections between natural objects and events. For Lewis’s philosophical purposes, it is important to understand that these laws are observational (i.e., they show how things have been observed to work), and while they appear to be prescriptive (that is, that they must be followed), there is no metaphysical reason for assuming that they are self-explanatory or that they exist independent of a creator. Lewis believes the laws of nature are evidence of a Lawgiver who designed the universe, and as such, this Lawgiver exists beyond the bounds of natural systems and has both the power and the prerogative to exert influence upon them.

Lewis defines a miracle as any event that occurs due to an influence operating from beyond the system of natural laws. Because it derives from an external source beyond nature, a miracle is, by definition, a supernatural event. Lewis is careful to note, however, that a miracle does not constitute a breaking of natural laws, but rather the introduction of an external influence, from which natural laws follow as they are properly ordered to do.

In Miracles, “nature” refers to the totality of the natural system, including everything that goes along of its own accord in observance of the cause-and-effect relationship of natural laws (primarily, the observable cosmos which can be discovered by scientific means). “Nature” thus encompasses all that is governed by the patterned laws that order natural functions. For naturalists, nature represents all that exists (but not so for supernaturalists).

A red herring (a term in both informal logic and popular culture) refers to a false clue, which may or may not be intentionally used to mislead someone. Lewis refers to some of the fallacious and sentiment-based arguments against miracles as red herrings.