Consistent with standard eighteenth-century accounts by Christian apologists, English deists, and skeptics like David Hume, a miracle is still usually thought of as an event with religious significance that is in some sense contrary to the laws of nature. There is no consensus about the best definition. Thus, in their investigations concerning the credibility of miracles, philosophers often have recourse to paradigmatic cases of purported miracles such as the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Most philosophers endorse a conception of miracles consistent with the possibility of a violation of the laws of nature. J. L. Mackie (1982) calls a miracle "a supernatural intrusion into the normally closed system that works in accordance with the laws of nature." Richard Swinburne (1970) holds that a miracle is "a non-repeatable counter-instance to a law of nature." A counterinstance to a given law of nature will either be a miracle or...