ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the idea of incombustibility in relation to the Protestant theory of the cessation of miracles. Following a short presentation of the wondrous, miraculous, and providential in reports about unburnt books, the chapter examines ambivalent and sceptical views on unburnt books, showing that their miraculous nature was increasingly contested, especially from around 1720. However, despite growing scepticism and criticism, for some Lutheran authors the preservation of a book in fire was without doubt a miracle. The chapter focuses on five contemporary attempts to theorise or conceptualise the idea that unburnt books were miraculous and explores how these attempts were squared with the cessation theory, that is, the claim of Protestant theologians that miracles ceased after the post-apostolic era. The chapter shows that Lutherans largely did not insist that unburnt books were supernatural (and therefore miraculous) and only rarely disputed the validity of the cessation theory.
