1.5 Religious Experiences Flashcards
What is a religious experience?
a non-empirical direct or personal experience with God
What are the 3 different types of religious experiences?
- visions
- numinous
- mystical
What are the impacts about religious experiences?
they draw people closer to god
Define visions
an image or event where there is a message or revelation
What are corporeal visions?
where a figure is externally present
What are imaginative visions?
a vision seen in the minds eye
What are intellectual visions?
visions which bring new knowledge or understanding and no figure is seen/heard
Example of corporeal vision
St Bernadette/St Paul
Example of imaginative vision
Pharoah/Joseph’s ladder
Example of intellectual vision
St Teresa of Avila
Who proposed numinous visions?
Rudolf Otto
What is Otto’s main work?
‘The idea of the Holy’
Define numinous experiences
Experiences of the ‘wholly other’
Where does numinous derive from?
‘numen’ meaning power or deity
Define non-rational
Cannot make sense of it using own senses/intellect
Define ‘sui generis’
unique/of its own kind/ in a class of its own
What quality does Otto emphasise?
Transcendence
How did C S Lewis define numinous experiences?
‘uncanny’ with feelings of dread
Biblical example of numinous experience?
- Moses and the burning bush
- Peter and the fish
Define ‘mysterium tremendum et fascinans’
a tremendus and fascinating mystery
What is a mystical experience?
an extraordinary union with the divine characterised by feelings of bliss and ecstacy
Main work of William James
Varieties of religious experiences
How does James describe mystical experiences?
“an ability to see the truth in a special way”
Define passivity
the mystic is passive and is taken over by the experience
Define ineffability
experiences beyond expression and words
Define noetic quality
give the person new knowledge
Define transciency
mystical experiences can only last for a short amount of time
What is James’ view on the use of drugs
They can cause genuine mystical experiences
Finish the quote by James: Halluciogenics allow “depth beyond depth
of truth which seems revealed to the inhaler
What do mystical experiences give to the mystic?
a new level of consciousness
Finish Stace’s quote: “either God is a mystery or …
“He is nothing at all”
Finish Stace’s quote: “mystical experiences transcends ..
our sensory-intellectual consciousness
Define non-sensuous
no use of senses
Define non-intellectual
no use of reason
What is an extrovertive mystical experience
where you can still have sense of external things
What is an introvertive mystical experience?
the mystic loses all control and senses
Why is it difficult to verify religious experiences: individual testimony
we only have the word of an individual who claims to have had the experience as evidence
Why is it difficult to verify religious experiences: private events
religious experiences are private events so are just in the mind
Why is it difficult to verify religious experiences: contradictory experiences
Different religions have different experiences
Why is it difficult to verify religious experiences: rare events
Religious experiences are too rare so there is not enough evidence to support them
What is Freud’s challenge to religious experiences?
They are just wish-fulfillment
What is religion’s respons to Freud?
Freud theory is just a hypothesis so cannot be tested
What is temporal lobe epilepsy challenge to religious experiences?
some people suffer from this condition whcih suggests religious experiences are nothing more than abnormal brain states
What is religion’s respons to TLE?
If God wants to give people religious experiences then these have to be processed by the brain
What is the god helmet challenge to religious experiences?
magnetic coils used to electrically stimulate the brain whcih causes religious experiences. If science can replicate religious experiences then they are not real events
What is religion’s response to the God helmet?
The mind can generate experiences of God - this does not meant that they are false
What is the drug challenge to religious experiences?
religious experiences can be caused by mind altering substances such as drugs and alcohol
What is religion’s response to the God helmet?
James argues that it does not matter how a religious experience is brought about - it is still real
What is Swinburne’s stance on God
God exists and can be proven through cumulative arguments
What is Swinburne’s principle of credulity?
If it seems to a subject that X is present then X probably is present
What is Swinburne’s principle of testimony?
in the absence of special considerations, the experiences of others are probably as they report them
One strength of religious experiences
some can be empirically verified e.g. Lourdes
One weakness of religious experiences
they are difficult to empirically verify
Influence of religious experiences: one example of religious experiences as foundational
- Prophet Muhammad
- Guru Nanak
Influence of religious experiences: one example of religious experiences as inspirational
- St Paul
- Joan of Arc
Influence of religious experiences: one example of religious experiences as pilgrimages
- Mecca
- Lourdes
Influence of religious experiences: one example of religious experiences as life changing
- St Paul
