Religious experience Flashcards
what is a religious experience?
any kind of experience which happens within a religious context e.g. during a service in a place of worship / a specific, life changing events
what are the different catagories of a religious experience?
subjectivist- if a religious experience is true for that person but not for anyone else e.g. seeing God/an angel which no one else sees
objectivist- religious experiences that are true for everyone
Swinburne’s groupings of religious experiences
- Experiencing a normal non-religious object or event that is seen as
the handiwork of God e.g. night sky. - Experiencing a very unusual public object e.g. resurrection of Jesus.
- Experiencing private sensations that can be described e.g. Joseph’s
dream of the angel. Muhammad and the night of power. - Experiencing private sensations that are not easy to describe e.g.
Nicky Cruz. - Non sensory experience. Can’t explain what it was in particular that
made them think it was God, it just felt like it.
Swinburne’s credulity and testimony (support for religious experiences being a union with a greater power.)
Credulity-In our every day lives, when we experience something, we usually experience it as it is e.g. if I see a tree on a walk, I have seen a tree on my walk and I have not been deceived. Swinburne says that as this is the case, when people claim to have had a religious experience, it is unlikely that they have been deceived and so we should believe that they have had the experience. We should only not believe that the experience happened if we can show that it cannot have happened e.g. If I say I saw a tree on my way to work and it can be shown that there are no trees on my way to work!
Testimony.
Whilst credulity considers the event, testimony considers the person claiming the event. Swinburne says that people do not usually lie, so if they say that they have had a religious experience, we should believe that they are telling the truth. We should only not believe them if we know that they are prone to lying and can prove this.
This is very similar to cases in court: The jury must consider:
1. The reliability of the personality of the witnesses. (testimony).
2. Whether evidence can be brought to show the event did not happen as people are claiming it did (credulity).
Otto’s ‘numinous’ mystical experiences- what are the 3 main qualities?
- A realisation that God is incomprehensible
(mystery). One might meet God and see his work
but will never fully understand God. - God is recognised as being of ultimate
importance. - During a religious experience God will be both
attractive and dangerous. The person will feel
privileged to have had the experience but will
recognise that God can not be controlled.
Otto details (dates and book?)
1869-1937
‘The Idea of the Holy’
Otto’s example
Otto gives the example of the feeling which
came over people after a storm destroyed a
partially built bridge on the Rhine. When the
storm abated an eerie silence descended on
the river evoking a strange sense of awe and
fear at the power of nature. Otto believed that
this experience of the numinous or holy, lay at
the root of all religions.
William James details (dates and book?)
1842-1910
‘The Varieties of Religious Experience’
William James info/beliefs
William James was a subjectivist-he believed that if a religious experience was genuine, it would be proof for the person who had experienced it that God exists but not for anybody else. He was also a pragmatist, which means that he was interested in the practical impact of a religious experience and that the truth of the experience lay in the impact it had. He did not believe that Religious experiences were
veridical i.e. what the person experienced was objectively true.
William James’ hallmarks
- The sheer certainty of the testimony. Individuals were left in no doubt
that they had had a religious experience. “They are as convincing to
those who have them as any direct sensible experiences can be’.- The fruits of a religious experience were proof. The individual becomes
less selfish, calmer and more loving. This links to one of his hall marks-
transiency-it has a long lasting effect. - People learn noetic truths which would be difficult to learn through an
ordinary experience. - The experience is ineffable and so shows it was not an ordinary
experience and has come from God. - The person is passive and so that shows that God has taken control of
them.
- The fruits of a religious experience were proof. The individual becomes
James’ response to common objections
- People who claim religious experiences can not be believed as they are often neurotic.
- People of different faiths have different experiences and portray the being that appeared to them differently and so there can not be a common cause.
- Religious experiences are to do with emotion and so can not be empirically tested.
- James says that we don’t usually question the mental balance of an artist, we just accept their art. We should do the same with those
reporting Religious experiences. Also, he says, a neurotic person is more likely to accept the experience as it is and not explain it away, so they make good subjects for a religious experience. - People of different faiths will explain
their experience using their own beliefs
and cultural tools. It does not mean
that people did not experience the
same God. - Religious experiences can be tested by
their fruits i.e. the lasting impact.
James’ examples of mystical experiences
(direct contact with the divine- angel, Moses and burning bush)
Case of Stephen Bradley:
* Uneducated man
* Considered himself Christian since 14 years old after an experience “I thought I saw the Saviour, by faith, in human shape, for about one second in the room, with arms extended, appearing to say to me, Come”
* 9 years later, there was religious revival in his village, made him realise he was not certain in his faith
* After listening to a preacher had another experience of quick heart beating and change in mood, believed to be caused by Holy Spirit, and later feeling presence of angels, also thinking God was directly speaking to him through Bible
* Now had an unshakable quality about his faith
Case of S.H. Hadley:
* Homeless, friendless, dying drunkard
* After feeling a “mighty presence”, decided to stop drinking, went forward to be prayed for and became a helpful person in the community
scholars
Mackie- people can be decieved
Hume- people love the miraculous and supernatural
James- sheer certainty, fruits
James- hall marks, links to attributes of God
Wiles- why would God choose a select few?
Freud- projection of the human mind/Oedipus complex common to all
Davis- not all can have a physiological or psychological explanation
Underhill- not passive
Milgram experiment- obedience and conformity within groups
arguments
Less likely to be explained in other ways
Supports the attributes of God better
Passes the tests better
Lots of people are less likely to be decieved
examples
Toronto blessing
The Pentecost
St Paul
Martin Luther King
