Miracle as Modern Conundrum in South Asian Religious Traditions

The book opens with a conceptual discussion of the modern miraculous, asking why miracle narratives remain powerful even in intellectual contexts shaped by science, rationalism, and post-Enlightenment skepticism. It then develops three major sections. The first section, “Miracles and Modern Ambivalence,” studies how Neo-Vedanta, Christian medical missions, and Sri Lankan religious responses to the tsunami negotiate miracle, science, and rational explanation. The second section, “Making and Breaking Shrine Reputations,” explores how miracle stories establish, strengthen, or complicate the authority of Hindu shrines in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and the South Asian diaspora. The third section, “Managing the Establishment: Miracles and Popular Expression,” examines Catholic, Sufi, and media-based miracle traditions, showing how popular expectation, institutional control, healing claims, secrecy, and commercial communication shape modern religious experience.