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Chapter 3 From Theism to Christian Theism: On the Arguments from, for, and against Miracles In addition to explaining the origin of the idea of God, the revealed-idea argument demonstrated the existence of God, or so Campbell believed. But that, for him, was far from enough. He wanted also to show the truth of Christian theism in particular . In fact, at times he seems to have been even more opposed to simple deism than to atheism. Deists were particularly distasteful to him because they borrowed from divine revelation only selectively, wanting, for example, to take the idea of God and leave the rest. Yet equally troubling to Campbell in the grand scheme of things were those Christians who, in defense of their most distinctive religious commitments, offered little more than an emotional appeal. He was unwavering in his view that all men who believe and preach Christ, should be able to give a reason of the hope which they entertain, by adducing the evidences of the gospel —not by telling their [emotional] experience, which will never convince anybody but an enthusiast. . . . Peter never commanded any man to narrate his own feelings as a reason of the hope which he had in the Messiah. No, the best reason of faith is a well authenticated testimony, of confirmed evidences. Our experience may be a consolation to ourselves . . . but the demonstrations which the Spirit has afforded alone can enable man to say that Jesus is Lord.1 Not surprisingly, then, Campbell thought that it was vital to carve a path between the incompleteness of deism on the one hand and watery religious enthusiasm on the other. Accordingly, he tried to develop a systematic argument for his Christian views, one that—in combination with his revealed-idea argument—could go all the way down in making the case for the Christian religion. First and foremost, 60 From Theism to Christian Theism Campbell emphasized the historical evidence that certain miracles occurred, in particular that Jesus rose from the dead. In his view, this miracle confirms that the basic tenets of biblical Christianity are divinely revealed, hence true. By the time Campbell had entered the public arena as an apologist in the early nineteenth century, there was heated debate in America about whether reports of miracles are credible, and people who denied their credibility often drew heavily on David Hume’s famous essay “Of Miracles.” Naturally, then, in making his case, Campbell replied to Hume. Campbell’s case for Christian theism, particularly as it involves his account of miracles, is the focus of this chapter. I begin by reconstructing his argument from miracles for the truth of Christianity (§3.1), followed by an analysis of his criteriological argument for the miracle of Jesus’s resurrection (§3.2). While these arguments leave us with a number of difficult questions to answer, my chief concern in this chapter centers on whether Hume’s argument against belief in miracles somehow undermines Campbell’s central case for Christianity. Accordingly, I turn to a discussion of Hume’s argument (§3.3), and I reconstruct Campbell’s fourfold response to it (§3.4). As it turns out, several of Campbell’s responses to Hume are borrowed from the work of the Scottish common sense philosopher and theologian George Campbell—the same man whose translations Alexander Campbell saw fit to include in his own edition of the New Testament.2 So in an effort to reconstruct Alexander Campbell’s view, I pay special attention to George Campbell’s critique of Hume in A Dissertation on Miracles. Ultimately, I contend that although his arguments from and for miracles may be problematic in other respects, Alexander Campbell provides a competent response to those who might think that Hume somehow singularly defeats Campbell’s overall case for Christianity. 3.1. Campbell’s Argument from Miracles for Christianity It is one thing to believe that God exists, but of course it is quite another thing to believe that Christianity is true. The latter involves believing not only that God exists but also that Jesus of Nazareth was resurrected from the dead and that he is the Son of God and savior of mankind. In Campbell’s view, we can justifiably advance from simple theistic belief to the more encompassing Christian belief by taking into account how certain miracles identify and authenticate God’s revelation to humanity. Naturally, then, miracles play a particularly crucial role in Campbell’s overall case for the truth of Christian theism. Although...

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