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Is there a middle ground between miracles and tall tales? Here's a book
to help believers in Christianity make sense of it all.
On June 1, 1974, a woman in England claims to have watched a news
account of a massive a chemical plant explosion that killed 28
people-four hours before it actually happened!
In 1963 a woman's husband mysteriously disappeared. She consulted a
psychic who, upon handling a piece of one of the husband's shirts,
immediately announced, "he's in La Jolla. He went there to heal a
psychic wound when he was 14 and his father disappeared." That turned
out to be accurate!
In the United States, apparitions, miracle cures, and other paranormal
phenomena, including stigmata, possessions, ghostly apparitions, and
weeping (or bleeding) statues, have recently been reported in 8 states
and at least two boroughs of New York City.
Many people dismiss such stories as urban legends or as the kind of tall
tales children tell in order to scare each other. Even though visions,
prophecies, and miracles have been a focal point of religious faith
throughout history, the skepticism of the modern world has tended to
gloss over or ridicule reports of these phenomena.
Nevertheless, many people continue to accept such accounts—according to
a poll in Life Magazine, 83% of Americans believe miracles. And, the
documentation of a miracle remains a prerequisite for sainthood within
the Catholic Church. Why do so many believe-despite our skeptical age.
Is there valid evidence to substantiate these stories of occult
happenings?
In Apparitions, Healings, and Weeping Madonnas, Lisa Schwebel examines a
broad variety of mystical experiences through the twin lenses of
scientific and paranormal research. Her fascinating and important book
sets out to record how religious people have described their
"supernatural" experiences and then places these accounts within the
wider context of the Christian mystical tradition. The author closely
examines accounts of such seemingly "miraculous" phenomena as ghosts and
apparitions, weeping icons, prophecy, healings, and visions.
The author then examines what psychology and the physical sciences teach
us about the phenomena of visions and miracles. She explores mystical
accounts that have been reported throughout history-often without
accompanying claims of divine intervention-and investigates what such
accounts reveal about the authenticity of mystical phenomena. Schwebel
also demonstrates how research in parapsychology can provide a
theoretical framework for analyzing visions and miracles.
Taken together, the anecdotes and stories in this book provide
compelling documentation of events that defy the teachings of modern
science. And the author provides modern Christians with the knowledge
that will help them to differentiate between tall tales and the truly
inexplicable.
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