A Theological Understanding of Miracle: Focusing on the Intersection of Science and Theology

The traditional understanding of miracles is being challenged. As science advances and secular thinking proliferates, people become increasingly exclusive of miracles and testimonies about miracles. Recognition and acceptance of miracles depend on differences in mindset and worldview. There is a huge gap between those who lived in the pre-modern mindset and worldview and those who live in the modern mindset and worldview. On the other hand, there are differences in the ways of acknowledging and accepting miracles due to differences in civilization and culture even among people living in modern age. Miracle stories are much more in the past than in the present. How should we understand and interpret the miracle story of history from today's perspective? There are many miracle stories related to Jesus in the Bible. It is clear that Jesus was accepted as a miracle-worker by the people of that time. However, the ways in which modern Bible scholars acknowledge, accept, and interpret Jesus' miracles differ depending on the category of the miracle. On the one hand, Jesus' miracles are one of many things that Jesus did in his life. Miracles do not determine Jesus' identity. What place does miracles occupy in the contemporary theological context of the theory of ‘God’s continuous creation’? The understanding of the relationship between miracles and natural laws differs depending on how the laws of nature are defined. Science changes and evolves. When a new paradigm for understanding nature is formed, the way we understand the relationship between natural laws and miracles will change. Miracles are just one of the many variations of God’s creation. It would make more sense to approach miracles through a new understanding of God’s creation. An understanding of miracles requires an understanding of divine action. Traditional theological accounts of divine action are becoming increasingly less persuasive today. We live in a time when it is increasingly difficult to explain and account for God’s activity. The question of divine action posed by the problem of miracles is perhaps the challenge for the theology of our time. A new theology is called for. Miracles can be better understood in the Sitz im Leben of believers than in the field of science. Miracles are not a scientific problem, but a theological problem and a matter of faith.