Religious Experience

Question 1

What are the three main classes of vision?

Answer 1

Corporeal, imaginative, and intellectual

Question 2

What is a corporeal vision? Support with an example

Answer 2

A vision in which something is seen that is not really present, but appears to be physically present to the person having the vision. E.g. St Bernadette’s vision of Mary at Lourdes

Question 3

What is an imaginative vision? Support with an example

Answer 3

A vision which takes place in the mind, often through dreams. E.g. Joseph’s dream where the Angel Gabriel communicated with him / The Pharaoh’s prophetic dream of cows coming out of the Nile

Question 4

What is an intellectual vision? Support with an example

Answer 4

A vision which does not involve seeing but a kind of intellectual perception which involves ‘seeing things as they really are’. E.g. St Teresa of Avila’s visions in which she did not see the form of Jesus but understood him to be present

Question 5

What is the relationship between visions and other forms of religious experience?

Answer 5

Other forms of religious experience often include/overlap with visions, e.g. Moses has a vision but also a numinous experience; St Teresa has an intellectual vision but also a mystical experience

Question 6

What is the purpose of a vision generally thought to be?

Answer 6

To deliver a message, either from God or someone representing him. This can be direct (e.g. the instructions from Mary to Bernadette) or implicit/metaphorical (e.g. the Pharaoh’s dream, which Joseph has to interpret)

Question 7

What is a numinous experience?

Answer 7

An apprehension of the wholly other

Question 8

Who describes numinous experiences, and in what text?

Answer 8

Rudolf Otto (The Idea of the Holy)

Question 9

What aspect of religion does the numinous connect to?

Answer 9

The non-rational: the part outside of/beyond what can be known through reason

Question 10

What are the main characteristics of a numinous experience?

Answer 10

Non-rational dread: a sense of dread that goes beyond rational fear

Creature-consciousness: a sense of being profane and creaturelike in the presence of something holy

Awe and wonder: being impressed and speechless by the greatness of God

Mysterium tremendum: the numinous is the apprehension of a tremendous (fearful) mystery

Overpoweringness: a sense of nothingness in contrast to the power of God

Question 11

How does C.S. Lewis illustrate the concept of numinous dread?

Answer 11

‘The Tiger in the Next Room’: knowledge of a tiger in the next room would create a sense of rational fear about what the creature could DO; knowledge of a spirit in the next room would create a sense of non-rational dread about what the spirit IS

Question 12

What does Otto say about the expression of the numinous in specific religions?

Answer 12

Christianity - has lots of examples of the numinous e.g. Isaiah’s vision of the temple, Moses and the Burning Bush. Otto sees Christianity as the highest form of religion because it has the perfect balance of rational and non-rational.

Islam - has the greatest emphasis on non-rational; high amount of numinous.

Buddhism - has elements of the numinous, e.g. Buddha statues in caves creating a sense of numinous dread.

Question 13

What is a mystical experience?

Answer 13

A sense of union/oneness with God/the divine

Question 14

Who are the two main scholars associated with mystical experience?

Answer 14

William James and Walter Stace

Question 15

In which text would we find William James’ description of mystical experience?

Answer 15

The Varieties of Religious Experience

Question 16

How does James define mystical experience?

Answer 16

A feeling of oneness with whatever one considers to be the divine

Question 17

What, for James, are the four main characteristics of a mystical experience?

Answer 17

Passive (the individual has no control)
Ineffable (the experience can’t be put into words)
Noetic (the experience brings knowledge that could not have been learned without the experience)
Transient (the experience is short-lasting, though its effects may be long-lasting)

Question 18

What does James say about the role of mystical experience in religion?

Answer 18

They are at the centre of religion - ‘primary religion’ arises out of religious experience and only later regresses into ‘secondary’ (institutional) religion

Question 19

What does James say we can conclude from mystical experiences?

Answer 19

They point to a higher reality, not necessarily the God of Christianity (James is a pluralist) but something which can be accessed by the human mind
We are under no obligation to accept the religious experiences of others, however individuals have the right to take their own experiences as legitimate

Question 20

What school of philosophy does William James belong to?

Answer 20

Pragmatism

Question 21

Why is James described as a ‘Pragmatist’?

Answer 21

He believes that religious experience can be verified through its effects; pragmatists focus on the ‘fruits’ (effects) of beliefs rather than their ‘roots’

Question 22

In which text would we find Walter Stace’s account of mystical experience?

Answer 22

The Teachings of the Mystics

Question 23

How does Stace define mystical experience?

Answer 23

Non-sensuous and non-intellectual union with the divine

Question 24

What does ‘non-sensuous’ and ‘non-intellectual’ mean?

Answer 24

Do not involve the senses and do not involve the intellect

Question 25

What are the two types of mystical experience identified by Stace?

Answer 25

Extrovertive - external world transfigured so oneness shines through it
Introvertive - external world ceases to be experience and oneness is experienced within

Question 26

What is a similarity and a difference between James and Stace?

Answer 26

Similarity: both focus on oneness/union with the divine across a number of cases
Difference: Stace separates into two classes whereas James focuses only on the four common characteristics

Question 27

What are the challenges of verifying religious experience?

Answer 27

They happen to individuals and are often unexpected/take place in dreams, so can’t be studied while they are happening
They are often hard to interpret
It is difficult to know whether someone is telling the truth about their experience
They do not pass the Verification/Falsification Principle

Question 28

What are the main challenges from science?

Answer 28

Drugs - psychedelic drugs such as ayahuasca can bring about religious experiences

Medical causes - e.g. Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) which can be identified as the possible cause of religious experiences such as St Paul’s conversion

Psychological explanations - e.g. Freud suggests that religious experiences, especially in dreams, are a primitive form of wish fulfilment

Question 29

How have religions responded to the challenges?

Answer 29

Point out that some religious experiences (e.g. Fatima) are corporate (happen to large groups), which increases their probability
Follow Swinburne’s Principle of Testimony in arguing that we should believe people about their experiences
Follow William James in suggesting pragmatically that drugs/medical conditions do not challenge religious experiences if they cause positive effects - these could be God’s way of communicating with us

Question 30

What is Swinburne’s Principle of Credulity?

Answer 30

We should believe our own experiences unless any special considerations (e.g. a psychiatric condition/drug use) should give us cause to doubt them; this includes religious experiences / If x appears to us to be present, x probably is in fact present

Question 31

What is Swinburne’s Principle of Testimony?

Answer 31

We should believe other people’s accounts of their own experiences unless any special considerations (e.g. a history of lying/drug use) should give us cause to doubt them; this includes religious experiences / If x claims that y was present, y probably was in fact present

Question 32

What are three ways religious experience influence people?

Answer 32

1. Religious experiences can influence individuals to deepen their relationship with God, e.g. a Christian who undergoes a religious experience during a pilgrimage
2. Religious experiences can lead someone to join or change religion - this would be called a conversion experience
3. Religious experiences can influence communities or societies, as (as James point out) they are primary forms of religion and can lead to the development of larger movements

Question 33

What are three ways religious experiences can have value for religious faith?

Answer 33

• Many religious experiences (e.g. visions/mystical experiences) are noetic; they give knowledge not otherwise attainable
• They are seen as proof of God, often as part of a ‘cumulative argument’ for his existence (e.g. alongside the Design argument)
• They can bring more people to a religious tradition through conversion experiences