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John of St. Thomas (Poinsot) on the Role of Miracles and Wonders in Preaching the Gospel
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 October 2024
Abstract
This article considers the claim that miraculous healings are essential to present-day evangelization. I contrast this perspective with that of the Baroque scholastic theologian John Poinsot. Like his contemporaries, Poinsot is concerned with offering a robust defense of the Christian faith but is rather circumspect with respect to the role that the miraculous should play. I argue that Poinsot’s reasons are not only valid, but the positive framework he develops for defending the articles of the faith helps contemporary evangelists successfully navigate the pitfalls of postmodernity.
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- © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers.
References
1 Matthias Thelen, Biblical Foundations for the Role of Healing in Evangelization (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017), p. 33. If healing is a sign of one who believes, as he suggests, then one is led to wonder whether implicit in this claim is an inverse statement: remaining in illness is a sign of one who does not believe. Mary Healy seems to think so when she writes, ‘Mark does not mean that Christ’s power was limited in itself, but that he chose to make his miracles dependent on human faith’. See Mary Healy, Healing: Bringing the Gift of God’s Mercy to the World (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2015), p. 51.
2 Ibid., p. ix.
3 Thelen, Biblical Foundations, pp. ix–x. Healy examines some reasons for this narrative herself. See Healy, Healing, pp. 38, 46–47.
4 Ibid., p. 77. Healy similarly thinks that evangelization through healing and the ‘power of the Spirit’ is needed to confront the ‘tsunami of secularization’. See Healy, Healing, pp. 10–11.
5 José Pereira, Suárez: Between Scholasticism and Modernity (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 2007), pp. 58–65.
6 Here, the re-lectiones of Francisco de Vitoria are particularly important, especially his De indis (1537–1538).
7 Healy suggests that ‘today we find ourselves in a cultural situation that is in some respects more like that faced by the early Christians than it has been at any time since’. See Healy, Healing, p. 14. I do not doubt the parity between the present-day and the apostolic age in many respects. It is historically naive, however, to suggest that our current age is ‘more like’ the apostolic age than ‘at any time since’.
8 Here, I do not intend to downplay the abuses that were carried out alongside many of those missionary efforts. What cannot be doubted, however, is that, historically, the seeds of the Gospel were planted and eventually took firm root in the New World. Whether that remains the case today is a different matter.
9 For Maritain see his Distinguish to Unite or The Degrees of Knowledge, trans. by G. Phelan (London: Geoffrey Bles Ltd., 1959), chs. 3 and 4; for John Deely, see his ‘A Morning and Evening Star: Editor’s Introduction’, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 68 (1994), 259–78.
10 This stands in contrast to Peter the Lombard’s Sentences, which was the standard theological textbook, as it were, of the time. As its name suggests, the Sentences are just a (haphazard) compilation of authoritative sources regarding Christian doctrine. In the second scholasticism that flourished in the Iberian Peninsula, Thomas’s Summa theologiae eventually replaced the Sentences as the chief theological text.
11 Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, 1.6–10.
12 Thomas, Summa theologiae I, q. 1, a. 2.
13 Ibid.
14 Poinsot, Cursus theologicus [hereafter CT], opera et studio monachorum quorumdam Solesmensium O.S.B. editus (Paris, 1931), ordo disputandi in hac quaestione, (p. 306): ‘… respectu infidelium et eorum qui a fide deficiunt, operae pretium est ipsa principia in initio ipso et limine theologiae defendere, eorumque certitudine explicare…’. In what follows, all references will be to this particular edition of Poinsot’s work. Pagination will be supplied parenthetically.
15 Ibid., disp. 1, n. 1.
16 Thomas, Summa theologiae I, q. 1, a. 8; cf. Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 1.3.72b5-15.
17 Ibid.
18 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 2 (p. 308): ‘… nullatenus praesumere debere, quod ratione et discursu poterit eos convincere, et demonstrare ea quae fidei sunt’.
19 Cf. n. 4 supra.
20 Healy, Healing, p. 32.
21 Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, trans. by G. Bennington and B. Massumi (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1984), p. xxiv.
22 Cf. Gianni Vattimo, After Christianity, trans. by Luca D’Isanto (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2002), pp. 5, 7, 15; James K. A. Smith, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), p. 17.
23 Vattimo, After Christianity, ch. 9; Jean-Luc Marion, God Without Being: Hors-Texte, trans. by Thomas A. Carlson (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1991), ch. 2.
24 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 2 (p. 308): ‘… cum res fidei sint ita excelsae quod omnem intellectum creatum supernant, non possunt humana ratione, quae valde infirma est, comprehendi et demonstrari …’.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid., n. 3 (p. 308): ‘… per modum extraordinarium et superiorem videlicet per miracula…’.
27 Ibid., n. 4.
28 Thelen, Biblical Foundations for the Role of Healing in Evangelization, 54; Healy, Healing, p. 32.
29 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 3 (p. 308): ‘… sed hoc utendum non est communiter et ordinarie, nisi aliquis senserit specialem motionem Spiritus Sancti’.
30 Ibid.
31 Lumen gentium, n. 12.
32 See Craig S. Keener, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic Press, 2011), vol. 1, p. 262.
33 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 3. Poinsot is not unique in making this claim about the establishment of the Church. Similar thinking can be found in Augustine and John Chrysostom. See, e.g., Augustine, In Evangelium Joannis Tractatus, tr. 32; John Chrysostom, De sancta Pentecoste, Homilia I.
34 F. F. Bruce, The Apostolic Defense of the Gospel (London: Intervarsity Fellowship, 1959), pp. 11–12.
35 Ibid., p. 12. Bruce is well aware of the challenges that evangelization poses in the twenty-first century. He summons the evangelist to ‘remove obstacles which lie in the way of people’s accepting the truth’, to ‘expose erroneous ideas’, and to ‘confront men’ with the ‘command to repent’. Ibid., pp. 41, 42. He does not, however, claim that the expectation of miraculous healings is a feature – let alone a necessary one – of evangelization.
36 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 5.
37 The praeambula fidei are just those truths pertaining to the faith that can be shown through natural reason, for example, the existence of God or that only one God exists.
38 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 8.
39 See ibid., n. 35.
40 Here, the afore-mentioned work of Craig Keener that defends the credibility of New Testament miracles thus remains entirely valid. See Keener, Miracles, 2 vols.
41 Keener, Miracles, vol. 1, p. 260.
42 Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 61–64.
43 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 13 (p. 313): ‘Quare miracula nude sumpta, abstrahendo a veris vel falsis, non sunt primae probationes nostrae fidei: sed ipsa miracula etiam indigent probari utrum sint vera, vel falsa miracula’.
44 Suárez, De gratia, prolegomenon III, c. 5, n. 15 (ed. Luis Vivès, vol. 7: p. 154): ‘… collatio sanitatis non pertinet ad gratiam, nisi quatenus aliquo modo virtutem naturalem superante fit: quia aliter facta neque est proprium opus Dei …’.
45 Curiously, Healing regards natural phenomena as miraculous at times. She states that miracles ‘may include an extraordinary coincidence, such as a chance encounter that leads someone with a rare condition to just the doctor who can help’. Healy, Healing, pp. 43–44. I doubt such a description of the miraculous would be persuasive to the skeptic.
46 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 13 (p. 313): ‘Quod si aliquando arte daemonis videtur fieri suscitatio mortui, aut illuminatio caeci …’.
47 I find it curious then that some contemporary evangelists have to develop an apologetic apparatus to address the transient character of some purported healings. See, e.g., <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV2jvMLthww&t=37s> [accessed 18 September 2024].
48 Acta apostolorum apocrypha (ed. Lipsius-Bonnet, 1891), Petri cum Simone c. 24–28; t. 1, pp. 72–78.
49 Suárez, De gratia, prolegomenon III, c. 5, n. 15 (ed. Luis Vives, vol. 7: p. 154): ‘… daemon interdum possit veram santitatem ita conferre, ut facta miraculose appareat …’ (emphases mine).
50 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 13.
51 Ibid., n. 14 (p. 313): ‘… fiunt enim falsa miracula ad quaerendam propriam gloriam, vera autem ad fugiendam, et ad veram virtutem quaerendam’.
52 Thelen, Biblical Foundations for the Role of Healing in Evangelization, p. 13.
53 See, e.g., Luke 5:13-14; Mark 7:36; Matt 9:30; Matt 8:4.
54 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 13.
55 Ibid., n. 15.
56 Ibid.
57 Thelen, Biblical Foundations for the Role of Healing in Evangelization, p. ix.
58 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 14 (p. 313): ‘Similiter daemones quando faciunt aliqua mirabila, propter superbiam id faciunt, ut tamquam dii habeantur’.
59 Ibid., n. 17 (p. 314): ‘… multitudo testium: sicut doctissimi, et sapientissimi homines et sanctissimi, qui ad hanc fidem accesserunt …’.
60 Ibid. (p. 314): ‘Nam contra haec omnia fidem praevelere sine alio adminiculo, sed sola sua veritate propsita, maximum signum est indubitatae certitudinis’.
61 Ibid., n. 18 (p. 315): ‘… interior mentium inspiratio et immutatio, etiam sine novis miraculi, quod inter maxima miracula … maximum habet robur’.
62 See Augustine, De civitate Dei, PL vol. 41, cols. 755–60.
63 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 18 (p. 315): ‘Certe hoc est maximum miraculorum quod sine miraculis credatur; est enim certum indicium inspirationis divinae’.
64 Thomas, Summa contra gentiles I, c. 6 (ed. Leonine, vol. 13: p. 17): ‘… indicium certissimum est praeteritorum signorum …’.
65 Ibid.
66 Ibid., n. 31 (p. 318): ‘… miracula non sufficiunt probare certitudinem nostrae fidei, quia etiam qui alias doctrinas docent aliquando faciunt signa et prodigia magna …’.
67 David Hume, one may recall, pointed to the fact that incompatibly diverse religions all boast of their own miracles, which would only serve to cancel each other out. This self-defeating situation, he thinks, would seem to undermine the claim that there actually have been any miracles at all. See his An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, sec. 10.
68 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 31.
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid., n. 32 (p. 319): ‘… quia fiunt propter aliquam seductionem iniquitatis’.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid., n. 53 (p. 320): ‘… sed simpliciter non requiruntur nova miracula pro conversione infidelium, quia modo non plantatur fides in mundo, sed plantata propagatur: unde sufficiunt miracula antiqua …’.
73 Joseph Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, trans. by A. Walker (New York, NY: Doubleday, 2007), pp. 176–77 (emphases mine). Evidently Healy disagrees with the position Ratzinger takes when she says, ‘Many people tend to think of healings as secondary to Jesus’ real purpose, to save souls. But the Gospels tell us otherwise’. Quote at Healy, Healing, p. 17. Nevertheless, she cites him as supporting her claim though she leaves out his statement that healing is a ‘subordinate’ matter and the role of reason. See Healy, Healing, p. 20.
74 Thelen’s selective quotation of the salient passage excises Ratzinger’s appeal to human reason. See Thelen, Biblical Foundations, p. 26.
75 Here, again, the work of Keener is valuable assessing the various sorts of miraculous phenomena that populated the ancient world beyond Judeo-Christianity. See his, Miracles, esp. vol. 1.
76 For helpful discussion of these belief systems and their practices, see Mesoamerican Healers, ed. by Brad Huber and Alan Sandstrom (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2001); see also a classic by Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004).
77 Vivieros de Castro, Cannibal Metaphysics, trans. by Peter Skafish (Minneapolis, MN: Univocal Publishing, 2014).
78 Poinsot, CT, disp. 1, q. 1, a. 1, n. 13.