June 18, 2012
Miracles have been over-reported, admits Stafford (Personal God: Can You Really Know the One Who Made the Universe), senior editor at the magazine Christianity Today. Here, he takes a journalistic approach to examine what could otherwise be considered “hype.” From reports of miracles in his own church to those overheard during reporting abroad, Stafford’s examples show why miracles could be seen as both amazing and exaggerated, God-given and coincidental, real and fake. Though he leaves room for readers to draw their own conclusions about the authenticity of miracles, he offers judgment on society’s interest in miracles: “We go wrong when we show a higher interest in miracles than in God.” The text has everything one would want in a book about miracles: history, global reports, a view of Pentecostal miracles, and even 20 takeaway messages. But the real gem is the psychological examination of why people do or don’t believe in supernatural healing. It is this doubt that readers will want to discuss at the water cooler. Agent: Books & Such Literary Agency.