Modern Miracles as the Foundation for a Renewal Apologetic

According to Craig Keener there are hundreds of millions of people around the world who believe that they have experienced or witnessed a healing miracle. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these miracles (Special Divine Action) occur in the third world and lack medical and scientific documentation. However, in Craig Keener’s text Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts (2011), he details over one hundred modern medical miracles which have documentation from American doctors and scientists. In addition to Keener, the Vatican’s Medica Consulta has also catalogued seventy cases of modern medical miracles originating from the shrine at Lourdes France which meet the Vatican’s rigid documentation criteria. Finally, the Renewal linked Global Medical Research Institute (GMRI) has begun an extensive study to verify and document claims of personal medical miracles. Thus, there is strong scientific evidence for the occurrence of modern miracles. While proving the occurrence of modern miracles is foundational in the development of a Renewal apologetic, the theological implications and meanings of the miraculous are the larger questions according to Polkinghorne, Richard Swinburne and others. What is ultimately needed in the development of a Renewal apologetic, is a comprehensive theology of the miraculous, which places modern miracles within the larger history of God’s interaction with his creation, as a means for the expansion of his kingdom. This will be the focus of the second part of this paper, as modern miracles are shown to be an integral part of the Renewal and expansion of the Kingdom of God; and ultimately the development of a Renewal Apologetic