How a Christian Transhumanist thinks about Miracles
The Bible, theology, and Christian tradition give us a very different view of miracles than you might expect
My recent conversation with Dale Allison focused on the historical question of miracles. But what is a miracle? What does Christian theology actually say about this? What does the Bible say?
In this short rumination, I contrast two views:
The “Traditional” View:
Miracles are unilateral actions of God
Miracles disrupt natural processes, and break the laws of nature
Miracles supersede human agency
The Ancient-Future View:
Miracles are collaborative acts of God, between God and creation
Miracles uphold natural processes, and reveal the laws of nature
Miracles empower humanity
Most importantly: Miracles display God’s intention for humanity to cultivate and rule the cosmos
These two views couldn’t be more different, yet I argue that Christian thinkers like CS Lewis, NT Wright, GK Chesterton, John Polkinghorne, and Sergei Bulgakov reject the “traditional” view, and converge on the ancient-future view. More significantly, Christian theology and Christian scripture definitively reject the “traditional” view in favor of the ancient-future one.
One of my favorite examples of the ancient-future view is from the parting of the Red Sea, the archetypal biblical miracle.
Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today...The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.’
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground...
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
— Exodus 14:13-22
This account has God, Moses, and the forces of nature all working together. Moses is said to be the one dividing the sea, as is God, as is the wind. No laws of nature are broken. Rather, this miracle is humanity as God intended:
Ruling the forces of nature, not by breaking them, but by pointing them to good ends.
As Bulgakov points out, this unites miracles with science and technology, as expressions of human work, the God-given calling of humanity. We see this calling in Genesis 1:26-28, in Psalm 8, in Hebrews 2, in 1 Corinthians 15:27—and it has always been understood as a scientific and technological calling.
Thus, this miracle is not simply a fantastic incident in history. This miracle reveals humanity’s future—the way humanity will act and govern creation, once humanity itself has been renewed.
Which brings us to Christ, the embodiment of what humanity is to become.
In both his ethical teaching, and his works of mercy and wonder, Christ reveals humanity reflecting the image and glory of God. When he heals the sick, raises the dead, or feeds the hungry, he is doing what he calls his disciples to do as well (Matthew 10:8). When he walks on water or calms the storm, he is doing what humans are intended for, as Peter intuitively grasps when he asks to join Jesus on the water (Matthew 14:22). And Jesus affirms this in a number of ways, most notably when he says that believers will do all of these works, and even greater ones yet to be revealed (John 14:12).
Beyond the words of scripture, Bulgakov argues that to deny this meaning of Christ’s actions is heresy. In Christian theological conviction, Christ is never anything other than fully God and fully human. Thus, all of his actions are actions of humanity, just as they are of divinity. We cannot affirm that Christ’s miracles reveal the true divine nature, without also affirming that they reveal the true human nature.
The picture is thus complete. There is one holistic story, stretching from Genesis to Revelation, embodied in Christ, and expressed in many ways and forms. The story is that God made humanity to govern the cosmos. When humanity fell short, God sent Christ as the renewed humanity, to lead the way back to that future. That future is aimed at in our science, our technology, our art, our music, our longings.
And that future is aimed at in the biblical miracles, which are glimpses and foretastes of what we are to become.