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A Level RS > Religious Experience > Flashcards

Religious Experience Flashcards

1
Q

What is an experience which produces a radical change
in someone’s belief system e.g. St Paul?

A

conversion experience

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2
Q

What is a religious experience which happens to a
group of people “as a body” *e.g. *the coming of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost?

A

corporate experience

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3
Q

What is an experience of God or of the supernatural which goes
beyond everyday sense experience *e.g. *Isaiah?

A

mystical experience

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4
Q

What is an indescribable experience which invokes
feelings of awe, worship and fascination e.g. wind in the willows?

A

numinous experience

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5
Q

What is Swinburne’s principle that we should usually
believe what our senses tell us we are perceiving?

A

Principle of credulity

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6
Q

What is Swinburne’s principle that we should usually trust
that other people are telling us the truth?

A

Principle of testimony

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7
Q

Who argued the following:
* essence of religion was in personal experience and
should be at the heart of faith.
* every person had a consciousness of the divine but in many it is obscured. Religious people are those that are aware
of, and try to develop, the divine.
* believed that religious experience is self-authenticating.
* believed Christianity was the highest of religions because in
Jesus there was the only example of someone with complete ‘God-consciousness’

A

Schleiermacher

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8
Q

Who wrote The Varieties of Religious Experience and argued that
although beyond the empirical realm, a mystical experience
has a positive impact on the lives of the recipients. He also identified four traits of mystical experiences.

A

William James

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9
Q

What are the four traits of mystical experiences as identified by James? (PINT)

A
  • Passive
  • Ineffable
  • Noetic
  • Transient
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10
Q

Who felt that there was too much focus on the
rational and intellectual development of beliefs to the
detriment of the spiritual aspects, and pointed out that both feelings and non-rational elements are central to religion since the founders all had powerful spiritual encounters with God?

A

Otto

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11
Q

What name did Otto give to the spiritual power that accompanied a religious experience?

A

numinous

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12
Q

What 3 traits did Otto identify in the numinous?

A

Mysterium, tremendum et
fascinas (mysterious, terrifying and
fascinating)

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13
Q

What is the philosophical movement that states a theory must be true if it works in practice?

James himself was an adherent to this

A

pragmatism

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14
Q

Which psychologist studied conversion experiences and concluded that conversion experiences were a normal part of adolescence?

A

ED Starbuck

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15
Q

What two categories did Starbuck identify with conversion experiences?

A

volitional and self-surrender

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16
Q

According to Starbuck, which conversion experience is a gradual change and development to new moral and spiritual habits?

A

volitional

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17
Q

According to Starbuck, which conversion experience is a sudden, pivotal or crisis experience followed by a change whereby the subject stops struggling against the change

A

self-surrender

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18
Q

Who could be used as an example of a volitional conversion experience?

A

Leo Tolstoy

19
Q

Who could be used as an example of a self-surrender religious experience?

A

CS Lewis

20
Q

James referred to the positive outcomes of religious experiences as what?

A

‘fruits’

21
Q

What are the following:
* conviction of something metaphysical
* feeling of elation and freedom
* feeling of having met a friendly power and responding by self-surrender
* a change in the emphasis of life

A

James’ “fruits” of religious experience

22
Q

James also used this person’s criteria to determine a genuine conversion (it should fit in with the teaching and traditions of the Church and should lead to positive changes in character).

A

St Teresa of Avila

23
Q

The most visible “fruits” came from this type of religious experience, according to James.

A

conversion experience

24
Q

Who said it was logically impossible to experience God or a noumenal reality because we are rooted in the phenomenal world of the senses?

A

Kant

25
Q

Who would argue that some criteria for conversion experiences were invalid as the church is the root for a lot of guilt and repressed feelings?

A

Freud

26
Q

Who would argue that conversions aren’t reliable evidence of religious experience because conversions are a normal psychological effect of adolescence?

A

Starbuck

27
Q

Other than religious experience, what else could create lasting impacts on a person’s character?

A

The influence of someone significant, art, life event

28
Q

James concluded that religious experience can be based on the idea that all religious are valuable and hold truth, also known as what?

A

pluralism

29
Q

Pluralism suggests that religious experiences are evidence for God because …

A
  • James’ PINT is seen in all religious experience across religions that were studied, suggesting all had a common cause
  • Religious experiences may be expressed differently across religions, but they all have common features
30
Q

Who argued that we cannot use religious experience to create cumulative evidence for God, likening it to using ten leaky buckets when one leaky bucket won’t hold water?

A

Flew

31
Q

What is a criticism of pluralist interpretations of religious experience?

A

Hume argues that Catholics experience Mary and Hindus experience Krishna. These difference undermine that common cause argument.

32
Q

What are three potential physiological causes of religious experiences?

A
  • diet
  • drugs/alcohol
  • neural messages
33
Q

What issues with diet can create effects similar to religious experience?

A

Nutrient deficiencies such as B12
Fasting

34
Q

Cite specific drugs that can create effects similar to religious experiences.

A
  • DMT
  • psilocybin
  • LSD
  • Ergot
  • ayahuasca
35
Q

physiological causes of religious experience

What can stimulate brain activity that makes study participants have feelings similar to those in religious experiences?

A

Persinger’s ‘God Helmet’

36
Q

Which neurologist suggested Paul may have had temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE)?

physiological cause of RE

A

Ramachandran

37
Q

Which psychologist suggested Paul’s conversion experience was a result of an intense emotional breakdown that was rooted in guilt?

psychological cause of RE

A

Jung

38
Q

Which scholar believed that religion is a projection of human desires and needs based on wishful thinking?

psychological cause of RE

A

Feuerbach

39
Q

To address the issue of subjectivity of religious experience, who suggested the idea of ‘experience as,’ i.e. we all may experience the same things but perceive them in different ways?

psychological causes of RE - counterargument

A

Hick

40
Q

Who would argue that religious experiences are a form of regression to the safety and comfort of infancy as we subconsciously see God as a father figure?

A

Freud

41
Q

What psychological phenomenon suggests we can be genuine in our conviction of religious experiences, but be misled by our own minds through focusing on some aspects while completely overlooking other parts?

A

inattentional blindness

42
Q

What is the term given to collective obsessional behaviour, with psychological or physiological symptoms?

A

mass hysteria

43
Q

What could be a potential sociological cause of corporate religious experiences?

A

The need to conform to group dynamics; a desire to fit in and avoid rejection

A Level RS (5 decks)

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