On Knowledge and Miracles

On Knowledge and Miracles

Abdallah ibn al-Tayyib

d. AD 1043

Physician, philosopher and priest of the Church of the East in Baghdad.

On Knowledge and Miracles

On Knowledge and Miracles — By Abū al-Faraj ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Ṭayyib, secretary of the Catholicos and philosopher

[Translated by Sam Noble] In the religion of the Christians, rational proof is nobler than miracles because rational proof is proof by which the intellect comes to grasp the truth of the claim of those who have miracles, his own investigation, the investigation of his circumstances and the circumstances of those who are making the claim, and the state of the matter with regard to the claim. Rational proof is for the elites and the philosophers and the scholars who are not led except by it, while miracles are for the masses whose breasts are not delighted by certain knowledge and who only believe what they behold by the senses. So it is clear that rational proof is evidence which convinces through knowledge and is for the elites and that miracles are evidence which convince through the senses and they are for the masses. Scriptural evidence that knowledge is nobler than miracles is from when Paul, the chosen and heavenly apostle says, "God appointed in His Church the apostles first, and after then the prophets, and after them the scholars, and after them those who work miracles, and after them those who heal the sick, and after them those who possess languages (1 Corinthians 12:28)." From this evidence it becomes known that knowledge is nobler than miracles. Then he says, "The elders who order the affairs of the Church well deserve multiple recompense, especially those who toil with knowledge (1 Timothy 5:17)."