Customer Reviews

Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions & Healing Cures

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Depending on what side of the religious fence you're on, you can find this book to be either annoying and even offensive, or a great reference book about gullibility, to teach us how to think better. I have to confess I'm in the latter category.

What's often befuddles many devout believers is why someone would even analyze miracles in the first place. After all, life without belief in miracles seems to be empty. What Nickell points out, simply, is that before we jump to conclusions, and impulsively accept a supernatural "explanation" for such phenomena, we should at least take a look at NATURAL reasons why they occur -- or look like they occur. He provides one or more natural, logical reason(s) for every "supernatural wonder" he describes. What he's telling the reader is "Examine and test extraordinary claims". Even religious ones, taught to us by people we admmire. If we don't do that, then we're liable to be suckered into swallowing whole any belief system. And in doing so, we can lose touch with reality.

I don't get the sense that the author is singling out the Catholic Church as an evil entity, or that he's coming down hard, personally, on individuals in that organization. However, he uses Catholic claims of miracles as an illustration of the way in which beliefs, once they're given official sanction by authorities, are easily accepted. He might have used Hinduism, Christian Science, or UFO-ology, for that matter, to serve his same purpose. But traditional Catholicism is familiar to many Americans. For that reader, Nickell gives a different slant on a lot of beliefs they would be already acquainted with. He also aids the non-Catholic believers, and the non-religious, to understand Catholic (and some Pentecostal) miracle claims, in scientific terms. In other words, he scrutinizes them, to see if the claims actually have any common-sense or logical basis, and if there's really any proof to back up the claims. It's up to the reader to decide whether he's made a case against belief. I believe he has, based on his thorough research of these cases. Of course, you disagree. But I would invite you to read what he has to say, and make up your own mind.

As Nickell implies, there might be deception in some of these astounding instances. But that's not always easy to prove. In my opinion, his research has uncovered cases of blant trickery. Other times, from what I can see, they're just deeply-held convictions, in spite of evidence which refute the claims.

His arguments may never sway the most loyal religious folks. That's understandable. Faith is definitely a strong force in an individual's life. One thing is certain: faith in miracles is at least a matter of great sincerity.

But one problem with that sincere exercise of faith, Nickell shows, is that it doesn't guarantee truth. Very well-intentioned believers retain ideas they've held since they were kids. But Nickell's point is that we have to be careful about what we continue to hold onto, and take things with a grain of salt, when we hear about things like weeping icons or healings.

I think that the value of "Looking For A Miracle" is the lesson that faith in supernational powers, and magical thinking, isn't necessary for wholeness and happiness. From his many examples, it's obvious that such faith can instill a feeling of security and love. But Nickell says that isn't enough. He offers a different, more accepting view of life's varied experiences. His outlook, from what I gather, is that one can live in and appreciate the natural world, even with all of our limitations, like gravity, sickness and mortality. So it's a great book for helping us view life as thinking, realistic adults.

If you read it with that thought in mind, with a desire to learn a different point of view, you should get a lot out of it. Highly recommended!

Joe Nickell doesn't question anyone's right to believe what they want, he simply questions those who would manipulate the faithful with false religious tangibility. Religion is not tangible, it is based on faith, and those who would use that faith for their own ends need to be exposed. A previous reviewer asked what could possibly be gained by 6,000 years of religious fakery? The naivete of that question shows that it is obviously being asked by someone too fearful to question the validity of their own faith. Control, power, fortune...aren't those the things we fight for even today? why is the Catholic church so rich? Is it because they don't want to be? That they are indifferent to the wealth gleaned from their faithful? Joe Nickell is among the astute observers of human behavior who simply wants to point out that devout religious faith, to the individual, is a choice for them to make, but devout religious faith manipulation and chicanery are much more common and need to be exposed for what they are, methods of controlling those who would not otherwise ask if the emperor, pope, minister, or faith-healer has any clothes.

The good news about the book is that it assembles a wealth on information about the unseen side of what many call miracles -- incorruptible bodies, miraculous apparitions, and medically-inexplicable cures, and so on. He is very clear and convincing that much (if not all) of this material is either phony, or is a misinterpretation by credulous people hungry to get close to the divine. Incorruptibles -- saints who bodies do not decay -- are often no such thing. Saints who may have seemed to defy decay for awhile are no sheathed in obscuring robes and have had their skeletized features replaced with wax masks. Apparitions (the Marian apparition at Garabandal is a notorious example) feature sleight of hand tricks to fool believers -- a girl runs out of a meeting and lo! a communion wafer is found on her tongue! People "cured" of a disease are trumpeted as proof of the divine touch, only to ie of the very same disease months later.

There are times when Joe takes his arguments too far. He does not find fakery on the part of the recipient of the apparition of La Sallette, but is upset that other pious layfolk use the occasion for making a buck or to persecute doubters. While Joe has found a way to duplicate many of the features of the Shroud of Turin, he stretches credulity himself by claiming that it shares features with similar images. Part of the problem is that he offers so few pictures in the book. We are asked to believe Joe as he tells us not to believe the miracle peddlers.

The pious (especially Catholics) come in for plenty of critics. Of course, we are heir to many pious if not outright superstitious traditions from the pre-modern period. From Marian apparitions to self-flagellants to incorruptibles to medical miracles to Padre Pio's bilocations, we have been inundated by the miraculous from an early age. Joe's book brought me some of my first experiences with contemporary reports of these phenomena. There is no question that much of this activity is self-serving -- attempting to persuade Catholics that theirs is the true faith. But Joe sometimes misses the point theologically by assuming that way a divinity ould act, and ten comparing events to this self-imagined benchmark. It may seem silly for Jesus to allow his face to be seen in the humble lines of a spaghetti ad; is it less silly for him to have born in a humble manger? A God who incarnates can most certainly show himself wherever and however he chooses. Let the smarties scoff and the humble be glad.

Still, I liked the book and found it valuable. Better to be on the lookout for the self-serving and the venal than to assume that very pious event is a message from God.

If you like the "they done it with mirrors" literature, this is good reading, although author Joe Nickell deliberately picks the silliest "miracles" and debunks them, thus showing how stupid belief in the miraculous is. And while he sniffs at the faulty recherches of the "miraculists", he himself cites an example of an old "folk tale": "For example, there is the story of castle Lockenhaus in Austria, whose sixtenth-century-owner, a countess Bathory, was rumored to have murdered young girls and drunk there blood." Quite right! Only it wasn't Castle Lockenhaus, but Castle Tzetsche, which isn't in Austria, but in Hungary, Countess Erszebeth Bathory was not "rumored" to have killed young girls, but was convicted in public trial before the Hungarian King Matthias (the case of the Blood Countess is famous in Austria and Hungary and much written about by scholars) and she did not drink the blood of sixhundred servant maids, but, being a sexual sadist and a lesbian, tortured them to death. So much for thorough investigation, Mr. Nickell! Still, the book makes interesting reading, especially for a Protestant like me who has always looked askance at weeping icons und "holy" relics, and the scientific explanations of how some miracles are done are most interesting. And, I must admit, Mr. Nickell is fair in so far as he notes that the Catholic Church is not always happy with such miracles. Still, I feel this is the counterpart to the miraculist who will believe anything, proven or not. Joe Nickell disbelieves in anything, proven or not.

This is a great overview of various miraculous events, conducted with an eye to actual data and evidence. A great book for thinking clearly about "holy visions," weeping statues, and other religious mass delusions. The text is thick in historical and scientific support, and there are some interesting pictures. Joe Nickell is a smart guy. Highly recommended.

I have read this book several times from the library, and finally decided to just buy it. Another review mentioned how he seems to deny all miracles, but that is not the impression I got (which most of the other reviews also seemed to have a similar understanding) considering he is simply trying to show that most (in)famous miracles do not hold up well under a rigorous inspection. The area that I wish he had addressed was the life and miracles claimed of Jesus. I understand that to be an even more touchy- and to some, insensitive- subject but I have a lot of respect for Joe Nickell and his many-faceted career; I think he could treat the subject with the needed care.

The book is worth reading alone for the sections on commercial miracle workers and healers (Oral Roberts, e.g.) and how they abuse the faith of those who give them money. I'm sure this is not an original idea but these commercial tele-evangelists are basically bringing back indulgences from the ancient Catholic church. Most modern people, religous or not, are sickened of the idea of indulgences and use it as a primary example of past Catholic corruption, yet it is still happening today, with not nearly the outcry that one might expect. But I digress...

This book is well-done, and raises many important ideas that I cannot give the proper justice too. Highly recommended...

No amount of anecdotal evidence is proof of anything. The simple truth is that there is not one single shred of scientifically verifiable evidence for miracles which would have required a suspension of the laws of nature to be true. The chapter on miracle cures is especially telling; the charlatans that prey on the sick cause tremendous harm to individuals and society - and the author makes that point tellingly. My only criticism of the book is that it is too short. More please!

Insightful and thought-provoking examination of the need of humans to believe in a higher power, even to the point of imagining and making-up miracles. In addition Mr. Nickell shows other less noble ideas of what caused a "miracle" such as greed. I think this book will get some readers to outwardly show anger. However, inside I bet they are questioning their beliefs. Afterall, a good book should give you something to think about for a while even if it scares you. Bravo!!

Harsh criticisms of religion? Yes. Can mere "faith" be ascribed as a reason to believe in anything? Mr. Nickell examines many of the more "popular" religious farces throughout history and tears them down. If you're going to believe in something and lay claim to faith as the reasoning, fine. But don't expect it to stand up to science. An excellent book for skeptics and believers alike.

Nickell carefully examines various miracles ranging from uncorruptible corpses to stigmata, and offers his own credible explanations. This is a good introduction to the topic, a welcome change from the gullible tabloid-type journalism we see so much of. A must for anyone, skeptic or believer, who wants to hear the other side of the story.