According to the canonical Gospels, Jesus of Nazareth, also called the Christ by Christians, worked many miracles in the course of his ministry. The large bulk of them are various cures, though there are also a large number of exorcisms, three instances of raising dead persons from the grave, and various other miracles that do not fit into these categories.

Critical scholarship and the miracles of Jesus

Especially since the 19th century, scholars of biblical criticism have examined the credibility of Jesus' life as depicted in the Gospels. Historically, biblical criticism stemmed from the Age of Enlightenment and the belief that miracles and the supernatural are scientifically and rationally impossible. The Tübingen school was a major center of this examination. A number of the earliest critical scholars were motivated by attempts to disprove Christianity.

These anti-Christian tones are not as prevalent in contemporary critical scholarship. Many scholars claim that miracles cannot be historically proven and therefore do not belong in a discussion of the historical Jesus.

The Jesus Seminar holds that the various cures are probably true, since there were many others in the ancient world credited with healing power, but rejects most other miracles, at least in their literal interpretation from the Bible.

The veracity of Jesus' exorcisms is particularly questioned among critical scholars. As they claim there is no empirical evidence for demonic possession, they generally conclude that psychological disturbances and mental illness were commonly attributed to demonic forces by ancient peoples.

Miraculous cures

The largest

Dominion over the demons

Belief in supernatural creatures was very common in Jesus' time, especially due to the preaching of the Pharisees. The Bible records several cases of the expelling of demons from the possessed. Many critics seek to explain away these demonic influences, reading them as cases of psychological sickness or epilepsy, which would provide the external symptoms without requiring the need for a supernatural force.

Nonetheless, many Christians accept these exorcisms as having really happened. The Roman Catholic Church maintains a detailed protocol of what is to be done to perform an exorcism, and most local denominations have an Exorcist 'specialist' at hand.

Power over nature

Another group of Jesus' miracles reported in the Bible show his sovereign power over the created world. Jesus was reportedly able to feed large multitudes with very little bread (a miracle that took place in Tabgha), and to change water into wine. With a word, he calmed a storm at sea, and himself walked on the surface of the sea. Catholics, Orthodox and some Anglicans would add the changing of bread and wine (the transubstantiation) into his body and blood to this group.

Power over life and death

The Gospels report three cases where Jesus calls a dead person back to life. In one, the daughter of Jairus had just died, and Jesus says she was only sleeping and wakes her with a word. Another case involves a young man being brought out for burial. When Jesus sees

To these must be added Jesus' own resurrection from the dead, if the Gospels are to be taken at face value. Most Christians accept this as fact without question, indeed almost defining being a Christian with belief in the resurrection. Others, like Rudolf Bultmann, claim that the resurrection was not a historical event. Most secular scholars would point to a lack of evidence and precedent and reject the resurrection.

Power over the mind

Scholastic Theologians taught that the act of Jesus' casting out the moneylenders from the temple was a miracle showing the power of Jesus over the minds of those in the temple. They reasoned that it would not be possible for one man to eject everyone from the premises without being attacked.

List of the miracles of Jesus

It is not always clear when two reported miracles refer to the same event. An attempt has been made to indicate those that probably are related.

In the canon, there are 40 miracles of Jesus during his life-time which were recorded in the bible, 37 of them are recorded in the Gospel and 3 other miracles were recorded in other sources. Apocrypha record other miracles.