Since David Hume the interpretation of miracle stories has been dominated in the West by the
binary distinction of fact vs. fiction. The form-critical method added another restriction to
the interpretation of miracles by neglecting the context of its macrotexts. Last but not least
the hermeneutics of demythologizing was interested in the self-understanding of individuals and
not in political perspectives.The book revisits miracle stories with regard to these
dimensions: 1. It demands to connect the interpretation of Miracle Stories to concepts of
reality. 2. It criticizes the restrictions of the form critical method. 3. It emphasizes the
political implications of Miracle Stories and their interpretations.Even the latest research
accepts this modern opposition of fact and fiction as self-evident. This book will examine
critically these concepts of reality with interpretations of miracles. The book will address
how concepts of reality always complex came to expression in stories of miraculous healings
and their reception in medicine art literature theology and philosophy from classic
antiquity to the Middle Ages. Only through such bygone concepts contemporary interpretations
of ancient healings can gain plausibility.
