Religious Experience

Question 1

What is a religious experience?

Answer 1

Experiences of god or of the supernatural which go beyond everyday sense experience

Question 2

Define conversion experience

Answer 2

a n experience which produces a radical change in someone’s belief system

Question 3

Define corporate religious experience

Answer 3

religious experience that happen to a group of people ‘as a body’

Question 4

Define William James 4 qualities of religious experience;

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Give a biblical example of a conversion experience

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

Outline William James fruits

Answer 6

James care about the fruit not the roots

This means he cares about the consequences not the causes.

Question 7

Explain William James views

Answer 7

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 )

Question 8

How is St Augustine an example of a transient experience?

How is S. Hadly an example of transient experience?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

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

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Schleiermacher argument for religious experience

Answer 10

• we all have a sense of dependence if only we stop to reflect on it.
• this lies deeper than the level of rational thinking

Question 11

Swinburne offer as evidence for religious experience

Explain swinburnes principle of credulity

Answer 11

He appeals to the belief that humans will ultimately tell the truth

Question 12

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?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

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?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What are Starbuck’s two types of conversion

Answer 14

Volitional - gradual change and slow development of new moral and spiritual habits

Self-surrender - a sudden experience followed by a change of life

Question 15

Explain the Toronto blessing as an e.g. Of corporate religious experience and evaluation of it

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

What is Ludwig Feuerbach psychological interpretation of religious experience

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

What 3 things did Freud say could be an explanation for religious experience?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

For Freud, how is religious experience a form of neurosis (mental illness)?

Answer 18

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

Question 19

For Freud, why is religious experience wish fulfilment?

Answer 19

No real proof or evidence yet sensible people continue to believe

Question 20

Symptoms of conversion syndrome?

Answer 20

paralysis, blindness, voices, hallucinations

Question 21

Causes of conversion syndrome?

Answer 21

death of loved ones , trauma

Question 22

What happened in the Toronto Blessings of 1994?

Answer 22

members of the congregation reported feeling the presence of, and being effected by, the Holy Spirit

Question 23

Who holds an empirical challenge to religious experiences?

Answer 23

Dawkins, Russell, Locke

Question 24

Hume view on religious experience

Answer 24

-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

Question 25

Hume quote on religious experience and meaning

Answer 25

‘Religious experiences happen to ignorant and barbarous individuals’ (generally uneducated people)

Question 26

John Mackie view on religious experience

Who is The Yorkshire Ripper and how does he link to John Mackie?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

James conclusions

Answer 27

• 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

Question 28

What are three strengths of James’ conclusions

Answer 28

> 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

Question 29

What is Kants argument against religious experience

Answer 29

It is logically impossible to experience god since we are rooted in the phenomenal world of the senses

Question 30

Starbucks views on conversion experience

Answer 30

• 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

Question 31

What is the empiricists challenge to religious experience?

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Keith Ward quote and we are..

Answer 32

‘All religions have mystical experience’

Product of our circumstances. Christians see Jesus

Question 33

Some people argue against criticism of religious experiences whilst on drugs. What is their argument?

Answer 33

if God is loving, then he would want to make himself known to people when they are in vulnerable and in need of reassurance

Question 34

Russel

Answer 34

• “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

Question 35

How does General vs James vs fraud see St.paul conversion

Answer 35

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