Against Ex Nihilo

Rodney Stark, in The Rise of Christianity, tries to explain the incredible spread of the Christian Church during its first few centuries, using only natural phenomena. He claims it was because of its unique historical setting, or because the Christians made a special effort to convert the widely-distributed Jews, or because women were more privileged in the Church, or because it happened to arise in the midst of Greek/Roman culture, etc. etc. In short, the rise of Christianity was a perfectly natural thing; we should have expected it. It was the right ideology, in the right place at the right time.

I believe the rise of Christianity was miraculous. But that doesn't mean I deny Stark's thesis. On the contrary, I embrace many of his secular explanations. They don't make the rise of Christianity any less miraculous; they only increase my awe! God made Greece, and he made Rome the master of Greece. He spread out the Jews in every city of the empire, and taught everybody to speak Greek. A host of natural phenomena came together and formed the symphony that brought about the rise of Christianity. And God made all of it.

Digestion is a miracle. Yes, it involves plenty of digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid and bacteria and millions of intestinal villi. That's why it's a miracle. God made all that amazing stuff.

I'm the type of person who likes to find a "natural explanation" for miracles. For example, when Constantine saw his vision of the cross in the sky, it was probably a sundog. I believe most of God's miracles are pieces of his original one: creation. God made the world Ex Nihilo, and He doesn't need to do it again. He's already got all this stuff lying around, waiting to be turned into something better.