MIRACLE151of middle knowledge would consist in
God knowing what you would do if you
were offered a bribe of a certain amount
under certain circumstances. By God
knowing those circumstances, God knows
what you will freely do. To posit middle
knowledge of God involves holding that
God knows not only all truths about what
for us is the past, present, and future, but
also that God knows all that would have
occurred or might have occurred under
different conditions. Some philosophers
opposing middle knowledge are called
open theists. They maintain, instead, that
God’s omniscience covers all that can be
known by God who exists in the present,
and that future free contingent acts can-
not be known until they occur.
MILL, JOHN STUART (1806–1873).
British empiricist, utilitarian, and
defender of a liberal political theory that
gave primary value to human liberty. He
defended a modest theism that was far
more limited than traditional Christian-
ity. He thought an afterlife was possible,
but he did not think God was both all
powerful and all good. His chief works
include System of Logic (1843), Principles
of Political Economy (1848), On Liberty
(1859), Subjection of Women (1861, pub-
lished in 1869), Utilitarianism (1861 in
Fraser’s Magazine, 1863 as a separate
publication), Examination of Sir William
Hamilton’s Philosophy (1865), Autobiogra-
phy (1873), and Three Essays on Religion
(published posthumously in 1874).
MIND. A term that is sometimes used to
refer to a person or soul or, sometimes,
more narrowly to refer to a person’s
psychological or mental life. “Mind” may
also refer to one’s goal or purpose. When
some theists refer to the mind of God
they are referring to God’s provident
purpose or intentions.MIND-BODY RELATIONSHIP. A
common term for the relationship
between the mental and physical, the
self or subject and her body and bodily
processes. Some religious philosophers
defend dualist accounts in which the
mind (self or the mental) is distinct from
the body; others suppose the mind is the
body, with a multiplicity of positions in
between.MIRACLE. From the Latin mirari, mean-
ing “to wonder at.” Famously defined
by David Hume as a violation of a law of
nature by a supernatural agent. Hume
also discusses the importance of trusting
the testimony of those who claim to
experience the miraculous, demanding of
one’s faith that such a source has legiti-
mate authority, e.g., believing in Catholic
doctrines about the resurrection that
trace back to the apostles’ testimony.
However, this definition fails to appreci-
ate the religious meaning of miracles, for
reported miracles are almost always cases
in which the miracle serves some reli-
gious end. It also employs a peculiar view