Array
(
    [fullTitle] => The Power of God and Miracles
    [abstract] => In this paper we explicate the notion of a miracle and highlight a suitable ontological framework for it. Our proposal draws on insights from Aquinas’s discussion of miracles and from the modern ontology of powers. We argue that each substance possesses a characteristic set of natural powers and dispositions which are operative or become manifest in the right circumstances. In a miracle divine intervention activates the fundamental disposition inherent in each creature to be responsive to God’s call. Thus, a miracle brings something about which a substance’s set of natural powers and dispositions could not bring about by itself.
    [authors] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [givenName] => Georg
                    [affiliation] => University of Innsbruck
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [givenName] => Josef
                    [affiliation] => University of Innsbruck
                )

        )

    [keywords] => Array
        (
        )

    [doi] => 10.24204/ejpr.v7i3.114
    [datePublished] => 2015-09-23
    [pdf] => https://www.philosophy-of-religion.eu/menuscript/index.php/ejpr/article/view/114/version/63/73
)
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The Power of God and Miracles

Georg
University of Innsbruck

Josef
University of Innsbruck

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.v7i3.114

Abstract

In this paper we explicate the notion of a miracle and highlight a suitable ontological framework for it. Our proposal draws on insights from Aquinas’s discussion of miracles and from the modern ontology of powers. We argue that each substance possesses a characteristic set of natural powers and dispositions which are operative or become manifest in the right circumstances. In a miracle divine intervention activates the fundamental disposition inherent in each creature to be responsive to God’s call. Thus, a miracle brings something about which a substance’s set of natural powers and dispositions could not bring about by itself.

Keywords:

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