WRITTEN by a faculty member of an Evangelical seminary in the United States, this is a bumper book of miracles — everything from curing cancer, the lengthening of limbs, the curing of the blind and deaf, the raising of the dead, and even the multiplication of food and the stilling of storms; but, for all that, it should not be dismissed as just another popular book for those who like to read of “signs and wonders”.

Craig Keener is a serious academic, a Professor of New Testament and the author of more than 30 books, including what he describes as a more academic book of some 1100 pages, Miracles: The credibility of the New Testament accounts. This shorter book of 284 pages aims to be more accessible while including 45 pages of endnotes.

Dr Keener has collected numerous accounts of miracles from all over the world. In many cases, he cites doctors’ reports, medical scans, X-rays, witness accounts, video evidence, and the effects that miracles have had on the people who have been cured and on their families and communities.

While he includes the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes, many of the miracles have occurred in places where Christian mission is still in its infancy, with the result that they have led to many conversions. Even today, the New Testament experience is repeated, and “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them” (Matthew 11.5, Luke 7.22).

Some of the chapters address thorny questions, such as What is a miracle? Why do some people assume that miracles don’t happen? Why don’t we see more miracles in the West? What does the Bible say about non-healing? Keener looks at healings that are temporary, or when they don’t happen at all, and he views miracles as “signs of God’s love for us, a foretaste of the future”.

In this book, miracles are approached with a healthy and scholarly scepticism, and the evidence, often quite credible and convincing and acknowledged by the medical profession as unique and defying scientific explanation, is allowed to speak for itself. Keener is himself a Christian and aware that he views miracles from a particular theological perspective, but he is not afraid to challenge those who hold a different world-view. This book will challenge non-believers as well as Christians who do not believe in miracles today. For others, it will build up their faith in a God for whom nothing is impossible.

This book leads us to ask whether we are blind to the miraculous happening around us and whether we should have the courage and humility to pray for miracles today. The Church is still called to heal the sick and cast out demons. Keener has focused compellingly on healing, but mentions deliverance ministry only in passing, and I would have appreciated knowing what place he sees it as having in healing miracles.

The Rt Revd Dominic Walker OGS is a former Bishop of Monmouth.

Miracles Today: The supernatural work of God in the modern world
Craig S. Keener
Baker Academic £17.99
(978-1-5409-6383-3)
Church Times Bookshop £16.19