Miracles and Wonders: The Development of the Concept of Miracle, 1150–1350 (review)

As Gary Dickson notes in his "Appreciating Michael Goodich," which introduces this book, the late Goodich produced more than forty articles and ten books, including this one. The theme of most of this corpus was medieval saints, their miracles, and their hagiography. It is fitting, then, that Miracles and Wonders presents us with an overview of many of Goodich's earlier ideas and writings. Following an introduction, Goodich takes up the problem of the theology of miracle, tracing the development of the concept within a Christian context from the early patristic writings to the fully articulated scholasticism of Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, and Engelbert of Admont (d. 1331), who is perhaps a less familiar figure whose work Goodich helpfully explores. A chapter on miracles in medieval sermons emphasizes the polarities between a stress on the moral virtues of a saint and her or his wonder-working charisma; Goodich maintains that the "official" Church, supporting the first approach, found itself tugging against the preference for thaumaturgical fireworks preferred by what he calls "believers." Chapter 4 deals with skepticism within a "popular" milieu, in which Goodich calls attention to a continuing opposition to beliefs about miracles throughout the Middle Ages. He emphasizes the use of wonder-stories as propaganda against skeptics, including heretics, pagans, Muslims,and Jews. The chapter refers to punishment for blasphemy against the saints, political reasons for opposition to particular saints' cults, and the negative effects of what Goodich terms "clerical greed"in supporting cults. Chapter 5, on the theory and policy of dealing with miracles as presented in canonization records, analyzes the bureaucratic treatment of the causes of Elizabeth of Thuringia, Philip of Bourges, Louis IX, Celestine V, and Thomas of Hereford. Chapter 6, "Canonization and the Hagiographical Text," continues the study of procedures introduced in the previous chapter. Here the new thirteenth century legal standards required before accepting a miracle are examined, again—as is typical in Goodich's writings—with extensive examples. The penultimate chapter,on dream and vision in miracle reports, includes the interesting suggestion that perhaps some or many canonizations were inspired by papal visions. In his conclusion,Goodich emphasizes his contention that much of the Church's concern to develop a "rational" mode of miracle investigation evolved as a response to a need to defend the concept, and Christianity itself, against "its chief polemical opponent, Judaism and its new enemies, the heretics. "The useful bibliography includes a list of primary sources in manuscript and print. Interestingly, there seems to be no reference to the works of Goeffrey di Trani (d. 1245) or Johannes Andreae (d. 1348), canonists whose analyses of miracle-proofs came be repeated at least into the sixteenth century. The list of secondary sources might have included the older but still useful works of Eric Kemp, Benedicta Ward, and Aviad Kleinberg. The specialist in medieval hagiography will find this a handy overview that includes some comments that might—as in any good study—evoke disagreement and the need for further investigation; but the book will be even more useful to those new to the field, fresh recruits to what Goodich called "the increasing army of scholars" attacking the problems of medieval hagiography.