2.1 The nature of religous experience Flashcards
religious experience
an encounter with the divine which brings awareness of something other than oneself
theism
the belief that God continues to intervene in the universe after creation
Schleiermacher & Tillich definition
an experience that offers a sense of the ultimate or a feeling of ‘ultimate concern’ that demands a decisive decision.
William James
suggested religious experiences give a person an overwhelming experience of joy, reverence and a desire to belong to God.
OT example
Moses and the burning bush in Exodus
direct experience
the person having the experience feels they are in contact with God, for example during prayer
indirect experience
where there is an inner experience of God’s immanence and a feeling of him acting on the world, for example in meditation
Caroline Franks Davis seven type of religious experience (three examples)
- Awareness - seeing the work of God when looking at the world.
- Interpretative - having prayers answered.
- Revelatory - receiving enlightenment from God.
These RE may be direct/indirect or public/private. Common themes include INNER PEACE, A FEELING OF CALM, A SENSE OF OTERS AND FEELING TO HELP THEM
Foundational religous experience
An experience that forms the basis of a religious movement, whether smaller sects within a religion or major interpretations within a religion.
Saul of Tarsus Background
- Saul of Tarsus was the original name of St Paul - a great Christian missionary to the Gentile world.
- Saul was a Pharisee
- He hated the influence that the new Christian sect was having on Judaism.
- The experience is convincing - converted from hating Christians to being convinced Jesus as the Messiah.
- Martyred for his beliefs in Rome.
- Experience had many features of an RE - visual, auditory, left with temporary blindness, conversion.
Saul of Tarsus story summary
Travelled to Damascus - suddenly a light of heaven shone around him - Jesus asks ‘Why are you persecuting me’ - went three days without sight - Ananias lays hands on him and fills him with the Holy spirit - scales fell from his eyes - he rose and was baptised.
Challenges to Saul of Tarsus
- St Paul suffered from epilepsy - his fall to the ground but recovery suggests a GRAND MAL SEIZURE.
- The experience of light and hearing a voice is also a symptom.
- Epilepsy was regarded as morbus insputatus - the illness at which one spits. In his epistles, Paul sometimes hints that he suffers from a mysterious and shameful ailment.
- Christian’s do not question the conversion as being a seizure - the point of interest i whether his experience gave him any real knowledge of the God he attributed it.
William James - PRAGMATISM
- Accepted RE are psycological phenomena occurring in our brain - this does not mean they are JUST that…
- Founded the theory of knowledge ‘Pragmatism’ - we can NEVER establish what is true in an absolute and ineffable way, we decide what is true according to what works for us in practical terms.
William James - RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
- RE express truth in PRAGMATIC terms, true to the extent they help us individually improve and make sense of our lives.
- Thought RE likes at the HEART OF RELIGION and constitutes the TRUE RELIGION.
- Thought the best way to judge the validity of a religious experience is to observe long term effects on recipient.
William James - four characteristics (pint)
PASSIVE - the experience controls you and not you it, comes to the recipient unbidden.
INEFFABLE - cannot be described in ordinary language
NOETIC - the believer gains some knowledge that couldn’t be reached by reason alone.
TRANSITORY -It is fleeting or momentary.
- CORPORATE EXPERIENCES
An experience that happens simultaneously to two or more people.
E.g. 1994 TORONTO BLESSING a large number of believers who reported being affected by the Holy Spirit. People were reported to be WEEPING, ROLLING ON THE FLOOR and making ANAMAP NOISES.
BUT could be 1. mass hysteria 2. extreme aesthetic reactions to religious stimuli 3. fraud
- NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES
Near-death experiences are said to occur when someone ‘dies’ and is resuscitated.
Common aspects are FEELINGS OF PEICE, OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE, ENTERING DARKNESS AND SEEING LIGHT.
Fenwick identified several features e.g. A LIFE REVIEW, A DECISION TO RETURN and a REMOVAL OF THE FEAR OF DEATH.
People’s lives are drastically changed as the result of a near-death experience and they may live life more serenely and compassionately.
- REVELATORY EXPERIENCES
Where God makes himself directly known e.g. through visions/dreams
Propositional revelation - God communicates his divine message to a human being
Non-propositional revelation - Through RE a person comes to a REALISATION about a divine truth - believers recognition of God acting. An example is the Bible - collection of perceptions of Religious believers who have witnessed revelatory acts through history.
St Teresa of Avila offered two tests to determine if GENUINE 1. Does it fit with Christian teaching?
2. Does the experience leave the individual feeling at peace?
- MYSTICAL EXPERINCE
For some it’s NOT religious. Experiences of an inner or deeper self or of oneness with nature.
In a religious sense, ME is one in which the believer becomes at one with Ultimate reality. The subject feels they are on the same level of reality while still retaining an awareness of self as a distinct entity.
James concluded ME in different faiths are essentially the same experience with ‘Ultimate reality’ but are interpreted with the belief structure most familiar to them. He believed ME are the primary experience of humanity.
- DRAMATIC OR CONVERSION EVENT
A direct experience and one that is NUMINOUS IN NATURE. NE inspire awe and wonder in the presence of an almighty and transcendent God. E.g. Saul of Tarsus.
Have been documented up to modern day. When people are in a religous building they may be filled with an awareness that there is something greater than them which they feel to be God.
Rudolf Otto
Argued that all experiences are numinous in nature. An RE produces a ‘sense of taste for the infinite’.
Identified the element ‘mysterium tremendum’ literally a ‘fearful mystery’ - the tendency of religious experiences to cause fear and a sense of dread.
The experience provides a reference point and from then on the believer interprets the world through the experience and the beliefs attached to it.
For Otto, numinosity DEFINES RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. God can only be known via sensory experience.
