Religious Experience Flashcards
What is a religious experience?
Experiences of god or of the supernatural which go beyond everyday sense experience
Define conversion experience
a n experience which produces a radical change in someone’s belief system
Define corporate religious experience
religious experience that happen to a group of people ‘as a body’
Define William James 4 qualities of religious experience;
ineffable - Exp too difficult to put into words
, transience - Exp lasted short time but had a sig effect on the person. Life -long = St Paul
, noetic - Provided insight or knowledge grasped through intuition. Relevation
passivity - PPl feeling they were not in control of the exp and as if another power was acting on them
Give a biblical example of a conversion experience
- St. Paul on the road to Damascus ( acts 9)
- light flashed around him, fell to the ground and heard voice and the light blinded him
Outline William James fruits
James care about the fruit not the roots
This means he cares about the consequences not the causes.
Explain William James views
James argues that conversions are the strongest evidence for the divine becuase of their observable effects as they are often life-changing
James study was based on pragmastism and emppiricism ( observing evidence from experience )
How is St Augustine an example of a transient experience?
How is S. Hadly an example of transient experience?
As seen in his book ‘confessions’ he wasn’t the best behaved, then he had a religious experience and he became a saint (literally)
his conversion was prompted by hearing a child’s voice say “take up and read”
S. HADLY describes himself as ‘a Homeless, friendless, dying drunkard’. Yet a conversion experience and never wanted alcoholic drink again. Given a new sense of purpose and morality
How is Christian Nun, Julian of Norwich, an example of a noetic experience?
Before her experience she described herself as a ‘simple creature, unlettered’ then afterwards she wrote extensively on the nature of God
Schleiermacher argument for religious experience
- we all have a sense of dependence if only we stop to reflect on it.
- this lies deeper than the level of rational thinking
Swinburne offer as evidence for religious experience
Explain swinburnes principle of credulity
He appeals to the belief that humans will ultimately tell the truth
Swinburne offer as evidence for religious experience ‘
Explain swinburnes principle of testimony
What are some factors that Swinburne says could count against testimony and credulity?
If a person believes that X is present then they are probably right to accept this
- 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
Swinburne offer as evidence for religious experience ‘
Explain swinburnes principle of testimony
What are some factors that Swinburne says could count against testimony and credulity?
If a person believes that X is present then they are probably right to accept this
- 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
What are Starbuck’s two types of conversion
Volitional - gradual change and slow development of new moral and spiritual habits
Self-surrender - a sudden experience followed by a change of life
Explain the Toronto blessing as an e.g. Of corporate religious experience and evaluation of it
- started in Toronto airport church in 1990’s , spread across churches
- it is described as a love of the Holy Spirit
- shown through speaking in tongues (unlearned languages) , animal noises and uncontrollable laughter
- some say it has strengthened marriages, changes lives etc
- others suggest mass hysteria or work of the demons
- problem. What does this reveal about god? Why has god only chosen to act on a small group of people
What is Ludwig Feuerbach psychological interpretation of religious experience
- people transfer all their highest ideals and hopes onto this made up god and imagine him to be all the things they wish they were themselves
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
For Freud, how is religious experience a form of neurosis (mental illness)?
It is linked to behaviours such as OCD
Fraud argues religion is a neurosis which is rooted in a conflict between conscious and unconscious mind where the ego tries to balance opposing demands of the id, ego and superego
For Freud, why is religious experience wish fulfilment?
No real proof or evidence yet sensible people continue to believe
Symptoms of conversion syndrome?
paralysis, blindness, voices, hallucinations
Causes of conversion syndrome?
death of loved ones , trauma
What happened in the Toronto Blessings of 1994?
members of the congregation reported feeling the presence of, and being effected by, the Holy Spirit
Who holds an empirical challenge to religious experiences?
Dawkins, Russell, Locke
Hume view on religious experience
-Hume noted that Catholics experience Mary whilst Hindus experience Krishna
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
Hume quote on religious experience and meaning
‘Religious experiences happen to ignorant and barbarous individuals’ (generally uneducated people)
John Mackie view on religious experience
Who is The Yorkshire Ripper and how does he link to John Mackie?
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
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
James conclusions
- empiricism = the many case studies he produced are empirical evidence of the effects of religious experience
- pluralism = his research into experiences in different faiths led him to conclude that they were similar . This having experiences may be just experiencing the same ultimate reality which is the interpreted into the second hand religious belief structure that is most familiar to them
- pragmatism = truth was not fixed and that observing effects of religious experience we can conclude that there is truth to be found in religion but not sure if this points to god
What are three strengths of James’ conclusions
> F. Schleiermacher argues that there is more to our existence than the physical and if we stop to reflect, we encounter something other.
- you can observe the effect on a person who has had a religious experience
- empiricism bud counter = can deceive us
What is Kants argument against religious experience
It is logically impossible to experience god since we are rooted in the phenomenal world of the senses
Starbucks views on conversion experience
- religious experiences are a normal experience that happens during teenage years - finding yourself and discovering who you are- search for identity
- he says this because most conversion happen between the age of 15-24
- doesn’t point to the existence of god
- counter = not all conversion happen during this age. Conversion are often short but Starbucks is suggesting that conversion are a long process that goes on over time
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
Keith Ward quote and we are..
‘All religions have mystical experience’
Product of our circumstances. Christians see Jesus
Some people argue against criticism of religious experiences whilst on drugs. What is their argument?
if God is loving, then he would want to make himself known to people when they are in vulnerable and in need of reassurance
Russel
- “if you eat too little, you see visions and if you drink too much, you see snakes.”
- possible for one to be affected by good of a story, but could happen even if the story was a myth
- good effects of re provide no evidence that it came from God and didn’t have natural explanation
How does General vs James vs fraud see St.paul conversion
Freud says he was having a mental breakdown caused by guilt from killing Christians
James - cares about the fruits not the roots - therefore he stopped persecuting Christians and became the most influential Christian 13 out of the 27 testament book written by Paul
Schizophrenic episode , epileptic seizure - its a biological cause not divine
