Key Words Flashcards
What are the two main factors of religious experience?
- the experience itself
- the interpretation of the experience
What interesting question did Hobbes raise and it what book?
Leviathan - asked what the difference is between a man saying that God spoke to him in a dream and a man dreaming that God had spoken to him
What did Bertrand Russel say that was similar to Hobbes’ question?
some people drink too much and see snakes, while others fast too much and see God
What does ‘seeing-as’ mean and who came up with it?
Wittgenstein - means we interpret our experience in a particular way e.g. rabbit or duck drawing - perception differs
What did Vincent Brümer say about the rabbit/duck drawing?
The picture is neither a duck or a rabbit, but just a drawing - it is just a matter of interpretation
What does ‘experiencing-as’ mean and who came up with it?
Hick - means that the world and everything in it can be experienced in different ways, even though the facts experienced are the same e.g. cinema or sunset - two people can see the exact same thing yet leave with a different experience
Common threads in religious experiences
- Ineffable = it is difficult to explain
- Transient = no sense of time
- Noetic quality = life-changing experience
- Passive = happens to you, you don’t go looking for it
What is Nicholas Lash’s view on religious experience?
He rejects the whole idea that God can be experiences directly - he attacks James’ whole conception of religious experience. Instead, he thinks that God is experienced in the everyday events of life
The Principe of Credulity:
He think that people genuinely believe that it is God - our experiences are usually truthful as our senses don’t usually fail us
Counter: Our senses do deceive us; we may genuinely think we have experienced God, but we are mistaken (wish fulfilment)
The Principle of Testimony:
There is no reason that someone would not tell the truth - give the benefit of the doubt
Counter: we may accept the testimony of someone when they tall about thinks in the world, but God is transcendent
Saul’s Conversion
- Saul was blind and did not have any belief in God
- God gave him back his sight and he was converted
- This is passive, not wish fulfilment as he was an atheist, noetic quality
Counter: the theologian theory is that he had an epileptic fit on the road as he suffered epilepsy
Counter Counter: maybe God chose to reveal himself through epilepsy
Numinous
the description given by Rudolf Otto to any experience of God which transcends the everyday
mysterium tremendum
a numinal experience that evokes fear
mysterium fascinans
a numinal experience that attracts and compels
Rudolf Otto quote
“there is no religion in which the numinous does not live as the real innermost core, and without it, no religion would be worthy of the name”
