Miracle

A miracle is an event that is extraordinary in its occurrence or regarded as a sign of divine intervention. The word originates from Latin miraculum, “something to be wondered at,” from mirari, “to marvel.” In many religious traditions miracles are attributed to a deity or higher power, while in secular usage the term can describe highly unlikely but non-supernatural events.

In religious contexts, common categories include healing, nature miracles, deliverance from danger, prophecies fulfilled, and miraculous survivals or resurrections. Christian tradition recounts healings and miracles attributed to Jesus; Islamic and Jewish sources describe signs and wonders; stories of miracles appear across many faiths.

Philosophical discussions include debates on how to assess miraculous claims. David Hume argued that miracles are violations of natural law and that testimonial evidence for them is inherently weak unless the event is extraordinarily well supported. Other approaches treat miracles as events with unknown causes or as interpretive labels used within communities, rather than as breaches of natural law. Distinctions are often made between genuine supernatural claims, coincidences, and placebo or cognitive biases that can produce seemingly extraordinary outcomes.

In modern usage, “miracle” can describe improbable medical recoveries or escapes, but in science and secular discourse it is usually treated as rhetoric rather than a demonstrable phenomenon. The question of whether miracles are possible depends on broader assumptions about naturalism, causation, and the existence of a transcendent agent, and remains a topic of ongoing theological and philosophical discussion.