INTRODUCTORY NOTE: A few days after I referred to the “Joan of Arc problem” in a post, Ross Douthat covered some of the same ground in an NYT column. The difference between his discussion and mine is that he used Joan as the jumping off point for speculation about the motives of a providential Christian God, while I find the concept logically absurd. More on that in a few weeks.
Joan of Arc was a peasant girl from the eastern part of France. She had no special training or education that would set her apart from millions of other peasant girls. But she received what she believed to be directions from three saints to contact the Dauphin and save France from the English. She went to the French court, identified the Dauphin there in spite of his disguise, rejuvenated the French resistance at Orleans, defeated an English army there, and began the process which ended with a complete French victory, excluding only Calais. How could this happen? It sounds miraculous.
I have read attempts to explain all of these events in purely rational terms. Taken collectively, they are implausible to the point of being ridiculous. The simplest, and almost certainly best, explanation is that Joan was, in fact, inspired by someone or something paranormal. If you accept that was the case, I do not see how you can accept the notion that matter in motion is the ultimate reality.
But who were the voices in Joan’s head? Was it God, the three saints, or something else? More on that in a future post.