2.1 The nature of Religious Experience

Question 1

What is the definition of religious experience?

Answer 1

‘an encounter with the divine that brings with it an awareness of something beyond ourselves’

Difficult to define, as it is subjective

Question 2

What is Sufism?

Answer 2

Islamic mysricism- having a religious experience in an altered state of consciousness (whirling dervishes)

Question 3

What is meditation?

Answer 3

a technique which trains attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally clam and stable state.

Question 4

What does Ninian Smart say about religious experience?

Answer 4

its a kind of perception of the invisible world- sense of the ultimate divine

Question 5

What does Edward Schleiermacher say about religious experience?

Answer 5

a religious experience is one that offers a sense of the ultimate divine, and an awareness of wholeness, a consciousness of the infinite and an absolute dependence.

Question 6

What does Martin Buber say about religious experience?

Answer 6

God reveals himself to people as they experience him in life and in the world through serious and meaningful relationships

you experience god through the people you know

Question 7

What does Paul Tillich say about religious experience?

Answer 7

Feeling that demands a decisive decision from the one receiving it

Question 8

What does William James say about religious experience?

Answer 8

Draws upon a common range of emotions, notably happiness and fear- but directed at the divine

Question 9

What does Richard Dawkins say about religious experience?

Answer 9

There is no such thing- they’re merely expressions of our psychological needs

Question 10

What is a direct RE?

Answer 10

where God reveals himself to a person having an exerience
e.g Moses and the burning bush

Question 11

What is indirect RE?

Answer 11

experience or thought or feelings about god, prompted by events in everyday life
e.g looking at the stars

Question 12

What is a theistic religious experience?

Answer 12

the person having the experience is distinct and separate from God

Question 13

What is a monistic religious experience?

Answer 13

all of reality is reducible to one substance, no separation from the divine (buddhism)

Question 14

What is dramatic or conversion event RE?

Answer 14

a direct experience, the person often sees a vision, with feelings of the power of God
Rudolph Otto calls it a ‘numinois’ experience

Question 15

What is a response to life and world RE?

Answer 15

indirect experiences which enhance a person’s understanding of their life and the world around them

Question 16

What is a revelatory RE?

Answer 16

divine self-disclosure where God makes himself directly known (dream/ vision). Acquires a new knowledge

Question 17

What is a propositional revelation?

Answer 17

God communicates his divine message to a human (moses)

Question 18

What is a non-propositional revelation?

Answer 18

a person comes to a moment of realisation of divine truth, throught religious experience

Question 19

What is a near-death experience?

Answer 19

When someone ‘dies’ and is revived, including out of body experiences, feeling of peace, or entering darkness and seeing light

Question 20

What is a mystical experience?

Answer 20

1) experience of the ultimate divine, unity with divine
2) overwhelmed in the presence of God
3) personal communications with the divine

Question 21

What is corporate experience?

Answer 21

Large number of people seeming to experience God at the same time

Question 22

How does music and atmousphere lead to religious experience?

Answer 22

offers people toe express their shared beliefs, state of heightened emotions
Work of evangelists

Question 23

How does prayer lead to religious experience?

Answer 23

communication with God bring you closer to him
glossolalia- speaking in tongues to connect with God

Question 24

how does meditation lead to religious experience

Answer 24

gives you an understanding of your union with God, loss of self

Question 25

What does **Ludwig Wittgenstein** think of RE?

Answer 25

Each person sees religious experience **differently**, testimonies are **unreliable**; some think they've had a religious experience, others don't

Question 26

What does **R. M. Hare** think of RE?

Answer 26

an **unverrifiable** and **unsatisfactory** blik (world view), personal interpretation makes them **unreliable**

Question 27

What does **Peter Vardy** think of RE?

Answer 27

religious experience depends on ones **presuppositions** (if you grow up religious you are more likely to have an RE)

Question 28

What does **John Hick** think of RE?

Answer 28

religious experience can also be **interpreted in non-religious ways**

Question 29

What does **Sigmund Freud** think of RE?

Answer 29

we feel helpless so **create the idea of God in our minds** to protect us from the fear of death and loss of control

Question 30

What is a **naturalistsic** (biological) explanation of RE?

Answer 30

explanations which are based on **natural laws**

Question 31

What is a **physiological** explanation of RE?

Answer 31

**physical changes** to the body explain RE (temporal epilepsy)

Question 32

What is **Freud's psychological** explanation for RE?

Answer 32

arises from psychological need to have a **God to protect us** in a hostile world. Individuals **project** their psychological needs onto a higher being, religion based.

Question 33

What is a **sociological** explanation for RE?

Answer 33

Re comes from **purely social**, rather than religious factors

Question 34

Who was **William James**?

Answer 34

An american philosopher and the 'father of psychology'

Question 35

What were the key ideas of **William James**?

Answer 35

The sheer **certainty of testimonies** was as convinving evidence as any argument for god The fact that someone **lived their life differently** after a RE was physical proof of a change

Question 36

Who was **Rudolph Otto**?

Answer 36

A Chritstian protestant theologian who wanted to ascertain what aspects of a RE made it 'religious'

Question 37

What were the key ideas of **Rudolph Otto**?

Answer 37

He thought having a RE was central to the **faith** of the singular believer Used the word **numinous** (something other worldly and separate)

Question 38

What does **mysterium** mean?

Answer 38

The **mystery of RE** as experienced by the individual, that cannot be put into words

Question 39

What does **Tremendum** mean?

Answer 39

feeling of **awe** in RE, sense of dread atimpact of greatness

Question 40

What does **Fascians** mean?

Answer 40

nature of believer being drawn into RE by a **fascination with divine**