Miracles

Miracles are not confined to the stories of Scripture; these signs of God's presence and power in creation are experienced throughout our daily existence. Yet cultural challenges and modernity's skepticism have marginalized belief in them as unreasonable and irrational, says Luke Timothy Johnson. In this excellent resource for church professionals, Johnson reclaims Christian belief in miracles as integral to recovering a proper and strong sense of creation, recognizing the validity of personal experience and narrative and asserting the truth-telling quality of myth. His analysis includes: a description of the competing symbolic worldviews that have framed the discussion on miracles, including secular debates and theological imagination; interpretation of miracles consonant with the biblical construction of reality in the Old and New Testaments; suggestions for four areas in the church's life—teaching, preaching, prayer, and pastoral care—that can work together to shape a symbolic world, within which believers can expect, perceive, and celebrate the miracles in everyday life.