Religious Experience Flashcards
Mystical experience
A direct experience of God or ultimate reality, a sense of oneness of all things
Numinous experience
An experience of awe and wonder in the presence of an almighty God
Conversion experience
An experience which causes a sudden or gradual change in someone’s belief system
Corporate experience
An experience that is shared by a group
How did William define religion?
As a personal experience.
For James, primary experience of the divine was at the heart of religion, and came before secondary experience
Passive
Experiences happen to a person, they are not in control
Noetic
Provides new knowledge that couldn’t have occurred by themselves
Transient
Lasts for an amount of time, but the effect on for person is long lasting or life long.
Ineffable
Difficult to put into word, indescribable.
Pragmatism
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
Empiricism
Using observations and evidence, the scientific method.
Pluralism
Belief that all religions are valuable and hold truth, so all religious experiences are valid
What were James’ 4 characteristics of religous experience
- Passive
- Ineffable
- Noetic
- Transient
Key principles of religious experience?
- Pragmatism
- Empiricism
- Pluralism
Two types of conversion experience
- Volitional
- Self-surrender
Volitional
Gradual change and slow development of new moral and spiritual habits
Self-surrender
A sudden, pivotal or crisis experience followed by a change
St Bernedate
- Believes she saw a vision of the virgin Mary, who said that spring (Lourdes, France) had healing properties
Nicky Cruz
- A gangster that to converted to Christianity after having a numinous experience
Arguments for religious experiences being proof of God
- 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
Arguments against religious experiences being proof of God
- 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
What are the ‘fruits’ of religious experiences?
The effects they have
St Teresa of Avila
- Recorded her own visions of Jesus
- Saw a flaming golden spear stab her side, which gave her a feeling of love
Julian of Norwich
- Saw a vision of Christ bleeding in front of her
- Said she felt overwhelming sense of unconditional love
James’ fruits of experience
- 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
Saul / Paul’s conversion
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
What does Paul’s blindness symbolise?
His transformation from darkness to lightness
What did Starbuck suggest about conversion experiences?
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.
What did Teresa of Avila say about identifying conversion experiences?
They should fit with the teachings of the church.
There should be a positive change in the person
The person should be left with a sense of peace
What do conversion experience create in James’ eyes, and how does this make them convincing?
Conversion experiences create clear ‘fruits’ that identify them as real.
What could the effects of conversion experiences indicate?
A divine interaction
What does Kant argue about religious experience?
It is logically impossible to experience God since we are rooted in the phenomenal world rather than the noumenal world.
What is a weakness of using observed changes in character to support conversion experiences?
Change of character is not unique to religious experience.
What did Freud argue about religious experience?
The church is responsible for psychological and subconscious guilt, which re surfaces in the form of religious experiences during rituals.
What is a psychological cause?
Something that stems from brain activity
Which psychologists dismiss religious experience on the basis of have a psychological explanation?
Starbuck, Freud and Feuerbach
What did Karl Marx say?
Religion is the opioid of the people
What did Freud claim was the origin of religion?
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.
Therefore, what did Freud believe religious experiences to be?
A form of regression to the safety and comfort of infancy. Our id (inner self) resurfaces, relying on a greater power for safety.
What did Jung consider essential to a healthy mind?
Spirituality and religion
What did Jung argue about Paul’s conversion?
Paul exhibited symptoms of an emotional break down, perhaps triggered by guilt.
He found a way out of the guilt - Christianity.
Swinburne’s two principles of religious experience
- Credulity (accept what appears to be the case unless we have evidence otherwise)
- Testimony (we should accept peoples accounts of religious experiences in the same way as any other account)
Who argued religious experience is just wish fulfilment
Feuerbach
What does Rudolph Otto challenge?
He challenges the idea that religious experience is intimate or shows unity in all things (Happold’s view)
How does Otto describe his numinous experiences?
They are experiences of awe and wonder in the presence of the all mighty God
What does Freud think conversion experiences are?
Hallucinations and wishful thinking
What is Anthony Flew’s view on conversion experiences?
Conversions are almost always to a religion the person has grown up in
How does Donavon respond to religious experiences?
There is a distinction between feeling certain and being right. When a believer claims to have a religious experience, they are merely feeling certain. The claim is subjective
What is a physiological cause?
One that comes from a change in the physical biology/ chemistry of the body
What are the factors that affect the brain?
- Electrical activity
- Hormones
- Exercise
- Diet
- Illness
- Drugs
What has been proposed about the causes of St. Teresa’s and others experiences?
They were caused by vitamin B deficiencies
What happened at the Pentecost
After Jesus’ ascension, the disciples were visited by the holy spirit. In Apostles, they are described as being surrounded by flames and then given the ability to converse in any language in order to spread Jesus’ Gospel.
What is the first recorded corporate experience?
The pentecost
Xenoglossy
A miracle where the language spoken is a human language that the speaker doesn’t know.
Why may corporate experiences be considered to be more convincing?
They cannot easily be explained by physiological causes. If an experience is shared by many, it’s unlikely they were all fasting, on drugs, or had a mental illness etc…
The Toronto blessings
Large groups of Christians experienced religious ecstasy and uncontrollable laughter, sometimes being ‘slain by the spirit’
Mass Hysteria
When unusual social behaviour spreads through a community. People usually don’t have control over their actions; contagious.
Why may mass hysteria be an argument against corporate experiences?
An individual may believe they are having an experience due to phycological or physiological causes, and then due to mass hysteria others join in.
The children of Medjugorje
Six children had the same vision of the virgin Mary. Pilgrims come every day to listen to Mary’s message from one of the children, who claims to still have daily visions
What could be said about the people listening to St Mary’s message being told?
They are having a second hand corporate experience.
What assumptions need to be made to argue religious experiences as proof of God?
- The experiences are genuine
- There is a divine source
What are the seven realities of experiencing God?
1) God is always working around us
2) God pursues a loving relationship
3) God invites you to become involved in his work
4) God speaks through the holy spirit, the bible and prayer
5) God’s invitation always leads to crisis of faith
6) You must make major adjustments in your life to join God
7) You come to know God by experience as you obey him
How do interpretations and conflicting truth claims argue against religious experiences being proof of God?
it may be that all experiences are the same, but interpreted differently. Not all religions have a monotheistic God. Is God at work in all faiths? Are some experiences fake?
How does particularity are against religious experiences being proof of God?
if God is causing these experiences, then why does he choose some people for experiences and not others? Why wouldn’t he reveal himself to everyone?
How do logical problems argue against religious experiences being proof of God?
If there is a God, he is wholly logically other to humans. Kant suggests that religious experiences are therefore logically impossible as there is no way for God to interact wit us
What the the concept of personal knowledge?
The distinction between I / It and I / Thou; knowing of someone versus knowing them.
Religious experiences provide a deeper, more personal knowledge of God.
For some, this noetic quality provides proof of a divine source if there is no other conceivable way to gain this knowledge.
