2.2.2 Types of religious experience

Question 1

Why is the philosopher Raymond Moody significant?

Answer 1

• his book, Life after Life (1975) found a number of “core experiences” that seem to be common to most
• these included a feeling of peace and ineffability (concerned with ideas that cannot or should not be expressed in spoken words); going through a dark tunnel & meeting a being of light & having to make a decision about whether or not to cross a barrier before returning to life
• these are common ground between religious experiences & near death experiences such as feeling of peace & many claim the being of light is Jesus, God, Muhammad etc.
• those who have had such an experience claim that it proves without doubt that there is life after death & so God does exist

Question 2

Describe the third type of religious experiences (Corporate experiences)

Answer 2

• a corporate experience is one that happens simultaneously to two or more people
• this type of experience arguably carries more weight because of the number of people testifying to it
• the Toronto Blessing, which begun in 1994 at what was then the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church, involved a number of believers who reported being affected by the Holy Spirit & receiving divine revelation
• phenomena noted at the meetings included uncontrollable weeping, laughing, rolling on the floor, & animal noises

Question 3

Describe a mystical experience

Answer 3

• seeking out a religious experience
• become ‘one’ with the transcendent/supreme reality
• loss of oneself
• introvertive: God is within
• extrovertive: awareness of God outside of yourself
• ecstatic: complete bliss
• three steps to preparation: purgation (attempt to rid thoughts), illumination (open your mind to what God wants), contemplation (complete oneness with God)
• William James says that everyone experiences the same Ultimate Reality (interpreted in the light of your faith tradition)

Question 4

What are the common features of a mystical experience?

Question 5

Who is Rudolf Otto? (finish)

Answer 5

• German theologian & philosopher
• lived 1869-1937
• his work focused on the nature of religious experiences & their connection to the divine
• his most famous piece of work was his book The Idea of the Holy (1917), where he introduced the concept of the “numinous”

Question 6

What were Rudolf Otto’s views on religious experiences? (finish)

Answer 6

• he argued that all religious experiences are numinous in nature & produce a ‘sense of taste for the infinite’
• Otto identified two elements being: Mysterium tremendum which literally means ‘a fearful mystery’ (a sense of overwhelming awe