Religious Expereinece

Question 1

What is a religious experience ?

Answer 1

• is one where a person has or believes they have had an with God
• religious experiences are also revelations meaning that the recipient gains knowledge about God that would otherwise not be known ; these experiences guide us to things that would never be known
• e.g St Bernadette and how she found the Lord spring wall
• this is interesting because it’s important that the person BELIEVES they’ve had that encounter with God- so it doesn’t matter if others don’t believe it
• an encounter with God can vary e.g Virgin Mary or angels but it could be argued that a religious experience with gods isn’t a religious experience without God

Question 2

The different forms of religious experience

Answer 2

• visions
• conversions
• mysticism
• prayer

Question 3

Visions

Answer 3

• a vision in a religious sense, is what a person sees or hears something that they believe is supernatural in origin
• a vision experience can happen when a person is awake or in a dream
• many different theologians have classified visions in different ways however the main ones are divided into three categories: sensory, dreams and intellectual

Question 4

Sensory visions

Answer 4

• A sensory vision is when a person is awake
• it is called a sensory vision because it involves a person seeing or hearing something that is beyond what might be called a ‘normal experience’
• The recipient hears/sees external objects, sounds or figures that brings the recipient and theological insight and knowledge
• for example, St Bernadette had several visions of an angel, at Lourdes, indicating the healing nature of the local spring waters
• Lord is now an important Roman Catholic pilgrimage
• Sensory visions can be individual or group based:
• individual sensory vision: the sensory vision is seen/heard by only one person Saint Bernadette, vision of an angel, at Lourdes, is an example of a individual sensory vision
• the second time Bernadette had a vision she was with her sister and a friend but only Bernadette could see the vision of the Angel
• Group sensory vision: the sensory vision is seen/heard by more than one person for example
• In Luke 2 a group of Shepherd had a group vision when they say an angel proclaiming the birth of Jesus
• finally, sensory visions are often corporeal in nature
• Corporeal sensory vision is web individual/group sees a vision that appears to be physical in nature such as a physical human body
• The example of Saint Bernadette and the shepherds in Luke two are also examples of corporeal sensory visions

Question 5

Dream based visions

Answer 5

• individual or groups can also have a vision in a dream, rather than in a physical sensory world
• An example of an individual dream-based vision can be found in Matthew one of the Bible
• Joseph had a dream based vision confirming the nature of Mary’s pregnancy
• an example of a group based vision can also be found in the book of Matthew 2:
• in Matthew 2 the three wise men are all warned in a dream not to go back to King Harrod to tell him about the whereabouts of Jesus
• therefore as above as well as having a specific quality of being dream-based dream visions can also be intellectual

Question 6

Intellectual visions

Answer 6

• visions, whether they are sensory or dream-based, are often claimed by the recipients to have given them important theological insights or understandings
• Search insights and standings are called intellectual visions
• For example in act 10 verse 9016 Peter had a dream-based vision of a large sheet (containing all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds) descending down from the heavens
  -A voice told repeated to kill and eat
• When he refused, the voice told him that he should not call anything impure that God has made clean
• Peter then realised he could eat with a gentile
• for Peter this vision gave him the understanding that Jesus’ message was for all people of the Earth and not just the Jews
• this shows that visions especially intellectual visions can deliver a specific message
• For example, the final judgement and images of the end of the world in the book of revelation
• This describes the things being judged according to what they have done
• anyone’s name that was not found in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire

Question 7

Conversions

Answer 7

• The word conversion literally needs to change direction
• In a religious sense it means a process of change in the way a pair of may perceive the spiritual aspects of human existence
• The two types of conversions
• individual and communal
• conversions are usually a personal experience
• An example of an individual conversion can be found in acts nine
• this is about soul he was on the road to Damascus when he was struck blind by a light from heaven
• he then hears a voice of Jesus and as a result this Saul later know as Saint Paul converted to Christianity
• an example of a communal conversion can also be found in acts
• Act two describes how the disciples and a crowd of people from many different nations receive the holy spirit at Pentecost
• they saw what seemed to be tons of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them
• Peter then took the courage and addressed the crowd, preaching to them and encouraging them to repent
• The crowd responded and many were converted

Question 8

Different ways conversions can be described as

Answer 8

• in a religious sense conversions can kill in numbers of different ways
• intellectual conversion:
• sometimes a conversion can be a matter of intellectual persuasion.
• This involves conflict between two systems of thought where the new one is seen as true
• for example, someone may study a religious text and come to the conclusion that the text is right
• It can also be of moral transformation;
• this is where someone changes how they live their life as a result of where it is the change in the lifestyle that is a key factor
• A conversion can be from faith (believing) to faith (trusting) awesome may put it as mind to heart
• for example, Saul converted from Judaism to Christianity on the road to Damascus

Question 9

Characteristics of a conversion - james

Answer 9

• William James understood a conversion as a conversion that involves the unifying of the inner self
• He believe that a religious experience was beyond normal realm of empirical science
• James Narara down the definition of a mystical experience as he felt it was too often misused and vaguely interpreted
  -PINT:
  P- passive : something is acting upon them. The experiences controlled from outside themselves.. they are recipients of the experience rather than the instigators of it.
• James elaborates on this by saying that during the experience one is ‘ grasped and held by superior power’ and is the recipient, having a transformative effect on the individual
• A classic example of this is the transverberation Saint Theresa described by herself as a ‘ sublime submit to which God has raised her’
  I- ineffable: The experience is impossible to express adequately in normal language. Language limitations prevent description.
• James explains this by saying because of the way it defines expression ‘ it cannot be imparted or transferred to others’, which means there’s no empirical evidence for the experience- this classification of a mystical experience is commonly cited by st Theresa transverberation
  N- Noetic: gives the person an understanding of important truths
• The knowledge is acquired through intuition, rather than reason, often said to be elimination
• this is described by Saint Theresa as she says ‘ our Lord made me comprehend in what way it is that one God can be in three persons’
  T- transient: the experience is temporary and cannot be sustained but the effects may last a long time
• James says of this” mystical states cannot be sustained for long”
• Saint Theresa also comments and this classification by saying that whilst the experience is short-lived, one can ‘neither forget the favour she received nor doubt of its reality’
• James notes how convincing these experiences are to the person having the experience
• James concluded that although religious experience does not give proof of anything, it is reasonable to believe that there is a personal God who is interested in the world and in individuals
• James says that we can determine whether an experience of the divine is genuine by looking at the results of the religious experience
• James summarises the characteristics of the religious life as the visible world which is part of a more spiritual universe
• Union with that higher universe is the ultimate aim
• prayer which is the main method of achieving this as prayer aids the flow of spiritual energy
• He also states that religion produces psychological characteristics including love of life, and earnestness and heroism

Question 10

Fredrich Schleiermacher

Answer 10

• Fed Rach believed that religious experience should be at the heart of faith
• He believed that every person has a consciousness of the divine but That in many people, this is obscured by other concerns
• According to Schleiermacher, religious experience is self- authenticating: it requires no other testing to see if it’s genuine
• he also believes that an individuals religious experience was based on the sense of being wholly dependent
• this is similar to James pragmatism psychological phenomena point.

Question 11

Rudolph Otto numinous and mysterium tremendum

Answer 11

• his aim was to try and identify what it was about a religious experience that made it religious rather than just an experience
• he emphasises that the aspects of religious experience beyond physical and empirical have been neglected due to the dominant role of language in religion in his work ‘the idea of the holy’
• bottom the word holy had several wide ranging connotations, not all of which he found helpful when trying to describe the feelings in religious or mystical experiences
• He therefore made use of the term numinous
• This word derives from the Latin word ‘numen’ which refers to a supernatural divine power
• for Otto the idea that human beings can be in the receipt of the numerous is part of the natural inclination of humanity towards the spiritual realm
• whilst human experiences often described in terms of the rational – particularly when dealing with the mundane aspects of human existence, Otto believed that there was also a significant dimension of human existence that yearn for that which he termed as the non-rational (that which cannot easily be explained by reference to standard in parental means)
• Otto isn’t stating that experiences of the numinous were irrational – which implies a lack of sanity or sensibility, a lack of stability in the interaction and experience – but rather the non-rational being which was entirely stable as an experience just not definable in rational terms
• The characteristics of a numinous experience is as follows: related to the holy, ineffable, beyond the empirical and cannot be comprehended by any other than the one who has the experience, and is in every respect unique
• Otto addresses the numinous experience as being ‘ the deepest most fundamental element in all strong and sincerely felt religious emotion’
• hence the concept of ‘numinous’ being a profound emotion on the individual in receipt of the numinous experience and states that the only way to summon the intensity of this experience is by using the Latin expression ‘mysterium tremendum’
• this is encountering the Holy Other, the Mysterium, with a numinous consciousness provokes a sense feeling of awe, even fear and terror
• the three characteristics of mysterium tremendum: awfulness (and mystical dread of the numen, which has absolute an approachability), Majesty(crushing feeling of personal insignificance of encountering absolute overpoweringness) and energy(where the numinous object is alive and active, demanding a personal response)
• From another perspective the mystical experiences characterised by mercy, where the subject is admitted to a state of salvation; love, where a personal relationship is felt and comfort where feelings of release satisfaction and for informant may follow
• Otto refers his readers to Isaiah 6, where the Lord of hosts is described as awesome and attractive
• In response to this Otto significantly asks ‘ who is the Lord of hosts’ to which the answer is ‘ that in whose presence we must exclaim “aaaah”’ Suggesting that God is not a philosophical being but a feeling, an experience of the mysterium tremendum
• he wanted to show it was fundamental to religion that individuals should have a sense of personal encounter with natural forces which he described as ‘mysterium tremendous et fascinans’ - an awe inspiring, fascinating mystery
• the encounter would bring a sense of awe and mystery, a feeling of strangeness
• Otto states ‘mysterium tremendum’ as the feeling of it may at times come sweeping like a gentle tide, providing the mind with a tranquil mood of deepest worship…’
• As he continues to describe the intensity of the mysterium tremendum he is trying to describe the profound intensity that is associated with a deeply felt religious experience.