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Philosophy - Religious Experience Flashcards

1
Q

What is a religious experience?

A

A religious experience is when a person believes they have had an experience of God or another religious figure

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2
Q

Who was William James and what did he do?

A

An American Psychologist who wrote and published in 1899, around this time there was an uplift in expectations that the world would come to the end, classified what 4 features a religious experience needed for it to be classed as a revelation of God

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3
Q

What four features did William James suggest?

A

Passive, ineffable, noetic and transient

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4
Q

What is passive? Example

A

not in control over the situation – St Paul’s experience

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5
Q

What is ineffable? Example

A

indescribable, can’t put it into words – St Teresa of Avila’s experience

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6
Q

What is noetic? Example

A

knowledge, you gain this without need to revise or research this – Julian of Norwich’s experience

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7
Q

What is transient? Example

A

permanent, the revelation permanently changes your life, even if it’s only a short experience – St Augustine’s experience

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8
Q

How is St Augustine an example of a transient experience?

A

As seen in his book ‘confessions’ he wasn’t the best behaved, then he had a religious experience and he became a saint (literally)

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9
Q

How is Christian Nun, Julian of Norwich, an example of a noetic experience?

A

Before her experience she described herself as a ‘simple creature, unlettered’ then afterwards she wrote extensively on the nature of God

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10
Q

How is St Teresa of Avila, a Spanish saint, an example of an ineffable experience?

A

She wrote about her visions and famously stated that ‘I wish I could give a description … but, when I try to discover a way to do so, I find it impossible’.

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11
Q

How is St Paul an example of a passive experience?

A

St Paul’s mystical experience which changed his life happened as he was on a horse travelling to Damascus, he did not intend to have a vision of Jesus but he did, and so he became one of the most important members of the early Christian church.

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12
Q

How to remember James’ 4 parts of a religious experience?

A

PINT

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13
Q

What are the 3 types of visions?

A

Intellectual, imaginary and corpereal

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14
Q

What is an intellectual vision like?

A 
.No image
.Pure understanding
.God’s intervention
.Feel loved
.Deeper belief
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15
Q

What is an imaginary vision like?

A 
.In the mind
.Powerless
.Very short
.During sleep
.Unable to endure
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16
Q

What is a corporeal vision like?

A 
.An object
.Bright light
.Voice
.Jesus or Mary
.Ghostly
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17
Q

Why might Davey falcus be fake?

A 
.Childhood trauma – loss of family
.Drug addiction – brain damage?
.Willing it to happen
.Alcohol – 15 year habit
.Loads of women – St Augustine, guilt?
.Withdrawal symptoms – hallucination
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18
Q

What happened to Davey Falcus?

A

Gang member turned believer and preacher after having a religious experience

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19
Q

Define conversion

A

is a form of religious experience where someone’s life takes a dramatic spiritual turn.

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20
Q

Conversion analogy with set of scales, include links to Falcus

A

Conversion is a bit like a set of imbalanced scales, subjects of conversion are usually in a state of imbalance (unhappy, like Falcus was unhappy with his addiction and crime). An experience then takes place which balances the scales and gives them a sense of emotional and spiritual balance in their lives (Falcus saw Jesus and then ‘a beautiful peace’ entered his body).

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21
Q

What are the two forms of conversion?

A

The 2 forms of conversion are volitional (gradual) and self-surrender (sudden conversion).

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22
Q

What is the volitional type of conversion?

A

The volitional type is where a person decides they want to make a spiritual change in their life and they go about doing the things necessary to bring this about.

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23
Q

What is the self-surrender type of conversion?

A

The self-surrender type is where a person decides to convert suddenly, usually as a result of a religious experience, they often affect people who have no religious faith whatsoever before the experience.

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24
Q

Where does Falcus show signs of gradual conversion?

A

Davey’s story shows signs of gradual conversion when he is moving house 3 times to escape from friends and associates. He searched many eastern religious for answers to his problems and addictions, he tried to find peace but sadly could not.

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25
When does Falcus show signs of sudden conversion?
Davey’s story also shows signs of sudden conversion when he experiences Jesus in his room after a bright light filled his room. Jesus said ‘Son, your sins are forgiven, go now and sin no more’. At that moment his 15 year old drug habit was broken and the desire for alcohol left. He felt a ‘beautiful peace’ enter his body.
26
What is an intellectual conversion? How was Davey's like this?
– a change in persons thinking – he no longer feels a need for drugs and alcohol, but instead he thinks of God and helping and healing others, his system of belief has changed
27
What is a moral conversion? How was Davey's like this?
a change in a person’s behaviour – he no longer consumes drugs and alcohol and instead preaches the gospel and heals people
28
What is a social conversion? How was Davey's like this?
a change in a person’s way of life – he no longer hangs around with gang members or druggies, but instead priests and preachers. His social circle has changed and where he spends his time has as well, he is now with God instead of large firms.
29
Davey’s account supports conversion as evidence for God’s existence as –
- If true, then it is strong empirical (observable) evidence for the existence of Jesus, and subsequently God. - No withdrawal symptoms or health implications after cold turkey - Such a drastic change in life
30
Davey’s account doesn’t support conversion as evidence for God’s existence as –
- Childhood trauma – loss of family - Drug addiction – brain damage? - Willing it to happen - Alcohol – 15 year habit - Loads of women – St Augustine, guilt? - Withdrawal symptoms – hallucination - It was describable, not fully supporting the PINT system by William James - Individual, could be lying
31
Did Falcus' conversion follow PINT?
Passive – No, he was actively searching for peace for a year, it did not happen out of the blue Ineffable – No, he describes it in his account ‘a bright light filled the room … wave after wave of pure bliss rolled over my body … I looked up and saw Jesus standing over me shining in all his Glory’ Noetic – Yes, he gained knowledge of the Christian religion and how to live a good life – very different to what his life was like Transient – Yes, the experience had a long lasting effect on him, he went from ‘Gangster to God’ and still is a preacher
32
What is the numinous?
the feeling of the presence of something greater than yourself.
33
What did Otto introduce in where?
In ‘The Idea of the Holy’ (1917) Otto introduced the idea that religious experience may be an encounter with something powerful, uncanny, weird, awesome but also fascinating and attractive.
34
For what reasons does William James, apart from PINT, believe religious experiences are good proofs for God?
.They happen to ‘normal’ people (ordinary and everyday people), so the experience cannot simply be the product of a faulty mind .They have a profound affect, such affects cannot be attributed to hallucinations e.g. Bernadette in Lourdes or Davey Falcus and his drug and alcohol addiction leaving him .The strength and quality of testimony, the sheer certainty of testimony was the most compelling evidence for William James
35
What is a Corporate Experience?
.Corporate means a group therefore corporate experience happens to a group rather than one person
36
Give examples of corporate expereinces
.Toronto Blessing, in January 1994, at a church in Toronto, 100’s of people claimed to have an experience .Fatima in Portugal, 70,000 people gathered to see a vision of the virgin Mary
37
What does Swinburne offer as evidence for religious experience?
Testimony and credulity
38
What is testimony?
If a person believes that X is present then they are probably right to accept this
39
What is credulity?
He appeals to the belief that humans will ultimately tell the truth
40
What are some factors that Swinburne says could count against testimony and credulity?
- Intoxication of drugs/alcohol - A general barrier e.g. age or education - Evidence to count against the experience e.g. film/photo etc. - The person is unreliable (history of being a liar) or they have something to gain
41
Who is Sigmund Freud?
Austrian psychologist One of the most famous proponents of psychology ‘Father’ of psychoanalysis
42
What 3 things did Freud say could be an explanation for religious experience?
Religious experience is a form of neurosis (mental illness) Religious experience is a form of wish fulfilment Conversion syndrome, Freud argued for a disorder caused by stress or trauma in a person’s life
43
For Freud, how is religious experience a form of neurosis (mental illness)?
It is linked to behaviours such as OCD He believes that experiences such as visions are the manifestations of a person’s faulty mind, in other words, the mind creates images that are not real
44
For Freud, why is religious experience wish fulfilment?
No real proof or evidence yet sensible people continue to believe
45
Symptoms of conversion syndrome?
paralysis, blindness, voices, hallucinations
46
Causes of conversion syndrome?
death of a loved one, childhood trauma, underlying medical condition
47
What is a corporate religious experience?
An experience which happens simultaneously to a number of people
48
What happened in the Toronto Blessings of 1994?
members of the congregation reported feeling the presence of, and being effected by, the Holy Spirit
49
What is the empiricists challenge to religious experience?
Religious experiences are subjective and emotional We cannot test or prove opinion and emotion If religious experience cannot be verified (proven) then they are meaningless. They cannot be accepted as factual events. Also as they often happen to individuals, rather than groups, we cannot directly verify (prove) that they occurred
50
Who holds an empirical challenge to religious experiences?
Dawkins, Russell, Locke
51
Hume view on religious experinece
Religious experiences lack a sufficient amount of witnesses to prove (verify) that they occurred He accuses sensible people of being caught up in the emotion of the event We lose our sense of reality
52
Hume quote on religious experience and meaning
‘Religious experiences happen to ignorant and barbarous individuals’ (generally uneducated people)
53
John Mackie view on religious experience
Religious experience is the result of a mentally unstable mind or Cultural conditioning, experience is the result of upbringing and society, e.g. Christians having visions of Mary also Mackie links religious experience to pain and dreams, they seem real but they are a result of the human brain rather than God
54
Who is The Yorkshire Ripper and how does he link to John Mackie?
The Yorkshire ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, was a prolific serial killer, blamed his killings on an imaginative experience, God told him to rid the world of all the sinners, so he went around killing prostitutes, perfect example of an unstable mind causing religious experience
55
A.J. Ayer quote on religious experinece
‘In describing a vision, the mystic reveals more about the condition of their mind rather than the experience’
56
A.J. Ayer view on religious experinece
Ineffability, if a person is unable to describe the experience it is more likely that it did not occur Religious experiences lack empirical evidence as they happen to individuals rather than groups
57
Who is Michael Persinger?
A neuro scientist that focuses predominantly on the brain and how it functions
58
What did Michael Persinger do and conclude?
.He created a machine that can induce a religious experience .The machine passed small amounts of electricity through temporal lobes and created an artificial experience .Persinger concluded that a person’s brain might be more sensitive to religious experience if they suffer from temporal lobe epilepsy
59
V.S. Ramachandran views on religious experience?
.He argues religious experience is caused by a condition called temporal lobe epilepsy .Religious experiences are not genuine, instead they are the symptom of this condition .Examples such as St Paul and Moses may have suffered from this illness
60
Who was Ellen White? What formed the basis of her religion?
founder of the 7th Day Adventist Church, had a number of mystical visions that formed the basis of her branch of Christianity
61
What did her followers believe Ellen White was?
A prophet that has received visions from God
62
What happened before Ellen White had visions?
She had a severe head injury?
63
What does Ramachandran claim about Ellen White?
Ramachandran claims that the injury and the visions are linked to temporal lobe epilepsy

A Level RE (29 decks)

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