Religious Experience

Question 1

Mystical experience

Answer 1

A direct experience of God or ultimate reality, a sense of oneness of all things

Question 2

Numinous experience

Answer 2

An experience of awe and wonder in the presence of an almighty God

Question 3

Conversion experience

Answer 3

An experience which causes a sudden or gradual change in someone’s belief system

Question 4

Corporate experience

Answer 4

An experience that is shared by a group

Question 5

How did William define religion?

Answer 5

As a personal experience.
For James, primary experience of the divine was at the heart of religion, and came before secondary experience

Question 6

Passive

Answer 6

Experiences happen to a person, they are not in control

Question 7

Noetic

Answer 7

Provides new knowledge that couldn’t have occurred by themselves

Question 8

Transient

Answer 8

Lasts for an amount of time, but the effect on for person is long lasting or life long.

Question 9

Ineffable

Answer 9

Difficult to put into word, indescribable.

Question 10

Pragmatism

Answer 10

The effects on the individual and the value to the individual. The success of the experience relies on how easy it is to apply in practice

Question 11

Empiricism

Answer 11

Using observations and evidence, the scientific method.

Question 12

Pluralism

Answer 12

Belief that all religions are valuable and hold truth, so all religious experiences are valid

Question 13

How did James believe religious experiences could be characterised as?

Answer 13

• Passive
• Ineffable
• Noetic
• Transient

Question 14

Key principles of religious experience?

Answer 14

• Pragmatism
• Empiricism
• Pluralism

Question 15

Two types of conversion experience

Answer 15

• Volitional
• Self-surrender

Question 16

Volitional

Answer 16

Gradual change and slow development of new moral and spiritual habits

Question 17

Self-surrender

Answer 17

A sudden, pivotal or crisis experience followed by a change

Question 18

St Bernedate

Answer 18

• Believes she saw a vision of the virgin Mary, who said that spring (Lourdes, France) had healing properties

Question 19

Nicky Cruz

Answer 19

• A gangster that to converted to Christianity after having a numinous experience

Question 20

Arguments for religious experiences being proof of God

Answer 20

• Somewhat empirical
• The four varieties of experience suggest there are many ways to experience God
• Science cannot yet explain everything
• Some experiences are ineffable with links with the transcendent nature of God

Question 21

Arguments against religious experiences being proof of God

Answer 21

• Still need an element of faith
• Some experiences cannot be verified
• Can be tricks of the mind
• Some ‘confirmed’ miracles happened so long ago they cannot be tested

Question 22

What are the ‘fruits’ of religious experiences?

Answer 22

The effects they have

Question 23

St Teresa of Avila

Answer 23

• Recorded her own visions of Jesus
• Saw a flaming golden spear stab her side, which gave her a feeling of love

Question 24

Julian of Norwich

Answer 24

• Saw a vision of Christ bleeding in front of her
• Said she felt overwhelming sense of unconditional love

Question 25

James’ fruits of experience

Answer 25

• A conviction of something beyond the material world
• An immense feeling of freedom
• A feeling of having a friendly power and responding to self surrender
• A change in the emphasis of life - e.g more spiritual

Question 26

Saul / Paul’s conversion

Answer 26

Saul was a prosecutor of Christians
On the way to Damascus he saw a vision of Jesus
After, he was blinded for 3 days until a Christian came and healed him
He then became Paul and became a Christian preacher

Question 27

What does Paul’s blindness symbolise?

Answer 27

His transformation from darkness to lightness

Question 28

What did Starbuck suggest about conversion experiences?

Answer 28

Conversion is a normal part of adolescence
The search for identity and purpose, which many people go through, either results in a religious experience or a sense of calm and identity.

Question 29

What did Teresa of Avila say about identifying conversion experiences?

Answer 29

They should fit with the teachings of the church.

Question 30

What do conversion experience create in James’ eyes, and how does this make them convincing?

Answer 30

Conversion experiences create clear ‘fruits’ that identify them as real.

Question 31

What could the effects of conversion experiences indicate?

Answer 31

A divine interaction

Question 32

What does Kant argue about religious experience?

Answer 32

It is logically impossible to experience God since we are rooted in the phenomenal world rather than the noumenal world.

Question 33

What is a weakness of using observed changes in character to support conversion experiences?

Answer 33

Change of character is not unique to religious experience.

Question 34

What did Freud argue about religious experience?

Answer 34

The church is responsible for psychological and subconscious guilt, which re surfaces in the form of religious experiences during rituals.

Question 35

What is a psychological cause?

Answer 35

Something that stems from brain activity

Question 36

Which psychologists dismiss religious experience on the basis of have a psychological explanation?

Answer 36

Starbuck, Freud and Feuerbach

Question 37

What did Karl Marx say?

Answer 37

Religion is the opioid of the people

Question 38

What did Freud claim was the origin of religion?

Answer 38

Humans worry and fear things such as death. Therefore, our minds construct a father-figure (God) who will defend us. This gives us a sense of security and control.

Question 39

Therefore, what did Freud believe religious experiences to be?

Answer 39

A form of regression to the safety and comfort of infancy. Our id (inner self) resurfaces, relying on a greater power for safety.

Question 40

What did Jung consider essential to a healthy mind?

Answer 40

Spirituality and religion

Question 41

What did Jung argue about Paul’s conversion?

Answer 41

Paul exhibited symptoms of an emotional break down, perhaps triggered by guilt.
He found a way out of the guilt - Christianity.