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Miracles

C. S. Lewis · A Preliminary Study · a UECF.NET Web Book · complete chapter-by-chapter study companion

About this book

Miracles: A Preliminary Study

Miracles is C. S. Lewis’s philosophical case for the possibility of the supernatural. Rather than arguing chapter by chapter over the historical evidence for particular miracles, Lewis first asks the prior question: is the universe the kind of place where a miracle could happen at all? Using arguments from reason and morality, he contends that Nature cannot be the whole of reality, then turns to what a miracle actually is, why the Gospel miracles cluster where they do, and why the Incarnation stands as “the Grand Miracle” from which all the others follow.

Author: C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)
First published: 1947 · Geoffrey Bles (London) / Macmillan (New York)
Revised & enlarged: 1960
This edition follows: HarperOne / HarperSanFrancisco paperback

16 chapters
2 appendices
1 Preface
≈ 95 min companion reading
310-page source edition
English

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This is a guide to the book, not a copy of it. Lewis’s Miracles remains under copyright, and the particular scanned edition on the Internet Archive (identifier miraclesprelimin00lewi_0) is held in that library’s “Print Disabled” controlled-lending collection — borrowable, but not a text UECF.NET has any right to copy or redistribute. So instead of a copy of the book, every chapter page below offers an original UECF.NET summary of Lewis’s argument, its key points, the illustrations and analogies he uses, related Scripture where Lewis engages it directly, and questions for personal reflection or group discussion. Read the chapter in your own copy of the book, then use the page here to review, discuss and apply it.

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Preface

IChapters 1–8 · Is the Supernatural Possible?

Lewis builds the philosophical case that Nature is not the whole of reality, using the arguments from reason and morality, before turning to what a miracle actually is.

1The Scope of This Book
≈ 5 min · Chapter 1 of 16 2The Naturalist and the Supernaturalist
≈ 5 min · Chapter 2 of 16 3The Cardinal Difficulty of Naturalism
≈ 6 min · Chapter 3 of 16 4Nature and Supernature
≈ 5 min · Chapter 4 of 16 5A Further Difficulty in Naturalism
≈ 5 min · Chapter 5 of 16 6Answers to Misgivings
≈ 5 min · Chapter 6 of 16 7A Chapter of Red Herrings
≈ 4 min · Chapter 7 of 16 8Miracles and the Laws of Nature
≈ 5 min · Chapter 8 of 16

IIChapters 9–16 · Miracle, History and the Gospel

Lewis turns from philosophy to the shape of the Christian story itself — the fittingness, probability and meaning of the Gospel miracles, centred on the Incarnation and Resurrection.

9A Chapter Not Strictly Necessary
≈ 4 min · Chapter 9 of 16 10“Horrid Red Things”
≈ 5 min · Chapter 10 of 16 11Christianity and “Religion”
≈ 5 min · Chapter 11 of 16 12The Propriety of Miracles
≈ 5 min · Chapter 12 of 16 13On Probability
≈ 6 min · Chapter 13 of 16 14The Grand Miracle
≈ 6 min · Chapter 14 of 16 15Miracles of the Old Creation
≈ 5 min · Chapter 15 of 16 16Miracles of the New Creation
≈ 6 min · Chapter 16 of 16

•Appendices

Two short appendices added for the 1960 revised edition, clarifying language Lewis uses elsewhere in the book.

AOn the Words “Spirit” and “Spiritual”
≈ 4 min BOn “Special Providences”
≈ 4 min

About this edition

Miracles was first published in 1947 by Geoffrey Bles in London (and by Macmillan in New York), argued largely without reference to the historical evidence for any particular miracle, in order to first establish whether miracle is philosophically possible at all. Lewis substantially revised Chapter 3, “The Cardinal Difficulty of Naturalism,” for a new edition published by Fontana Books in 1960, sharpening his argument from reason after a well-known 1948 critique by the philosopher G. E. M. Anscombe at Oxford’s Socratic Club. That revised text is the one printed in every edition since, including the HarperOne / HarperSanFrancisco paperback this UECF.NET companion follows.

Author	C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)
First edition	1947, Geoffrey Bles (London) / Macmillan (New York)
Revised edition	1960, Fontana Books, Ch. 3 rewritten
This edition	HarperOne paperback, ISBN 978-0-06-065301-9
Structure	Preface + 16 chapters + 2 appendices (“Spirit & Spiritual”, “Special Providences”)
Source consulted	Internet Archive item miraclesprelimin00lewi_0 (metadata & TOC only)
Copyright	Still under copyright (C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd. / HarperCollins)

A note on copyright and sources. The Internet Archive item consulted for this page (miraclesprelimin00lewi_0) is catalogued in the Internet Archive’s “Print Disabled” collection as an access-restricted, controlled-digital-lending item: it can only be borrowed one reader at a time through their system, and its scanned text is not licensed for copying or redistribution by third parties. Miracles is also still commercially in print. For both reasons, UECF.NET has not copied, OCR’d, or republished the book’s text here. Every chapter page on this site is instead an original UECF.NET study companion — summaries, key points and discussion questions written by UECF.NET, not excerpts of Lewis’s book — and no PDF download of Miracles is offered on UECF.NET. We encourage every reader to obtain the book itself from HarperOne, a local bookseller or library, or a legitimate Internet Archive loan.