Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical & Theological Study

by Graham H. Twelftree

"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching, proclaiming and healing every disease and every sickness among the people." (Mt 4:23)
Few today doubt that Jesus was viewed by many of his contemporaries as a miracle worker. And many scholars today would agree that Jesus was a healer and an exorcist. But what does this mean? Was Jesus simply a master at relieving psychological distress, a healer of psychosomatic illness, a purveyor of paranormal therapy? What distinguished Jesus from other miracle workers of the ancient world? And what should we make then of his stilling the storm, his walking on the sea, his feeding of the five thousand?
In this study of the miracles of Jesus, Graham Twelftree extensively examines the miracles within each Gospel narrative. He evaluates Jesus' own understanding of the miracles, weighs the historical reliability of the miracle stories, and considers the question of miracles and the modern mind.
This book maps and explores the borderlands between the affirmations of faith and the conclusions of historical method. Are some miracles simply more open to historical verification than others? With the historical study of Jesus once again capturing the attention of the media and the public, this timely book courageously steps forward to investigate the hard questions.
Jesus the Miracle Worker is a comprehensive and textbook study of the miracles of Jesus, written by a recognized expert in the historical investigation of the exorcisms of Jesus.

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies, Religion

470 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 1999

About the author

Graham H. Twelftree (PhD, University of Nottingham) is the Charles L. Holman Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity and the director of the PhD program in the School of Divinity at Regent University, Virginia. In addition to many scholarly articles and reviews, he is the author of a number of books, including In the Name of Jesus: Exorcism among Early Christians and People of the Spirit: Exploring Luke's View of the Church.

Reviews

[Zacarias Rivera, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the books that I have read on the miracles of Jesus, this is my favorite. It is so informative. Twelftree addresses issues related to the definition of miracles, to our post-modern understanding of miracles, and others related to the study of the miracles found in the Gospels. He focuses on each miracle found in the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel According to John. He carefully explains what each writer focuses on and how the individual writer's understanding is different from the others.

I found it thorough and highly beneficial in my understanding of Jesus as a miracle worker.

[Wesley Storks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly middle of the road scholarly approach to the works of Christ’s miracles in the gospels. He goes through the historicity of the miracles in each gospel account as well as how Christ thought of His miracles, and what his miracles teach us. As with many works of this caliber, you have to read through a lot of academic monologue and diatribe to get to the central point he makes, but when you do, it’s quite insightful.

[Nelson Banuchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read concerning the miracles and healing if Jesus thoroughly looked at and discusses the reliability of it being an actual event in the life of Jesus and their meaning. The author covers every miraculous, exorcism, and healing event recorded in the Bible one by one.

[Rudy Dyck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was an excellent book. Your viewpoint will change based on how liberal or conservative you are. Twelftree is conservative but he does not promote an infallable Bible either so some very right-wing scholars will be upset. Liberal scholars will disagree as well.

Basically the author goes to great lengths to point out that Jesus did in fact perform actual miracles. He does a very good job of presenting both sides of the argument and modern scholarship on all the Gospels. Whether you agree with his conclusion may alter your score but I thought it was a good and well balanced book with some ingight I had not read. I had never heard of the miracles performed in the 1700s at the tome of Abbe Paris. Miracles that lasted decades and witnessed by thousands.