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Philosophy > Religious Experience > Flashcards

Religious Experience Flashcards

1
Q

What is religious experience?

A

A direct or indirect experience of God
There is no singular definition or criteria as there are a variety of experiences and interpretation

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2
Q

What is religious pluralism?

A

The idea that all religions have valid insights into God and that Christianity is not the only true faith

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3
Q

What is the difference between noumenon and phenomenon?

A

Numenon= there is reality as it really is
Phenomenon= there is reality as the five senses present it to us

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4
Q

How does Hick describe religious experience?

A

Different human responses to one divine reality

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5
Q

What is Hicks pluralistic hypothesis?

A

A devout Christian and a Buddhist might both experience the same divine reality, but one will perceive God the Heavenly Father but the other would experience Nirvanel

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6
Q

What is the analogy of the Elephant and the blind men representing?

A

Religious experience may be different and the people may perceive it as different God’s or higher beings, however everyone who has a religious experience is experiencing the same divine reality

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7
Q

What did Wittgenstein say about the nature of religious experience?

A

‘Seeing as’- when we see something it must look like something
The experience if the divine can be interpreted by us as God but it could be something very different and even ordinary with a rational and scientific explanation

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8
Q

What did Hick say about the nature of religious experiences?

A

Developed Wittgenstein’s idea of ‘seeing as’ in ‘experiencing as’
He saw religious experiences as different interpretations if one truth about the universe

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9
Q

What did James say about the nature of religious experiences?

A

Religious experiences can be genuine without being real or divine

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10
Q

What are James’ four criteria for a religious experience and what do they mean?

A

Ineffability- behind the ability of our words to express
Noetic quality- gives knowledge unlike any other human experience
Transience- experience is short but life changing
Passivity- no will if one’s own during this experience

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11
Q

What are over beliefs?

A

A belief that requires more evidence than it actually has. Individual bias and will of something if greater than the objective evidence for something

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12
Q

What is Swinburne’s principle of credulity?

A

We ought to believe things as they seem unless and until we have evidence that they are mistaken
Trusting religious experiences is like trusting your ordinary senses

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13
Q

What is a criticism of Swinburne’s principle of credulity?

A

Some people could lie about their religious experiences

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14
Q

What is Swinburne’s principle of testimony?

A

Those who do not have experience of a certain type of thing should believe others who claim to have thus experience

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15
Q

What is a criticism of Swinburne’s principle of testimony?

A

People present all sorts of weird, crazy testimonies. We don’t accept those ideas even though the people proposing them might seem otherwise

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16
Q

What did Persinger do?

A

He said religious experiences are simply a product of brain chemistry and function. They stem from activity in the temporal lobe
He created the ‘God helmet’ which he thought could stimulate religious experiences artificially by stimulating parts of the temporal lobe

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17
Q

What did Richard Dawkins say about religious experiences?

A

They are a minipulation of events that at the time seem unexplainable but have a scientific explanation
They can also be a manifestation of a psychological need for a sense of meaning in a persons life

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18
Q

Did the God Helmet work for Dawkins?

A

No

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19
Q

EXAMPLE: Fatima Miracle of the Sun (1917)
How many appearances did Our Lady of Fatima make to the three children?

A

6

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20
Q

EXAMPLE: Fatima Miracle of the Sun (1917)
What did Our Lady of Fatima tell the three children to do?

A

Return to the same place e for. 6 consecutive months

21
Q

EXAMPLE: Fatima Miracle of the Sun (1917)
What was the first secret given to the three children by Our Lady of Fatima?

A

A vision if hell, ‘a great sea of fire which seemed to be beneath the earth’

22
Q

EXAMPLE: Fatima Miracle of the Sun (1917)
What was the second secret given to the three children by Our Lady of Fatima?

A

A prophecy of WW2, promised WW1 would end soon but another would follow, ‘a night illuminated by a strange light in the sky’ would be a sign that the war was near.
On 25th Jan 1938 an arrow borealis lit up the sat across Europe and America

23
Q

EXAMPLE: Fatima Miracle of the Sun (1917)
What was the third secret given to the three children by Our Lady of Fatima?

A

About persecution of Christmas in the 20th C that culminated with the failed assassination of Pope John Paul II on 13th May 1981
Our Lady ordered the children not to reveal this secret
When in if the children was close to death she wrote the secret and put it in a sealed envelope that could not be opened until 1960 or her death whichever came first

24
Q

EXAMPLE: Fatima Miracle of the Sun (1917)
When were the secrets given to the three children by Our Lady of Fatima revealed to the public?

A

First and second were revealed in 1941 on a document written by one of the children
Third secret was revealed on the 13th May 2000

25
Q

EXAMPLE: Fatima Miracle of the Sun (1917)
What did Our Lady of Fatima say to the three children alongside telling them about the three secrets?

A

The God would perform a miracle on the 13th October

26
Q

EXAMPLE: Fatima Miracle of the Sun (1917)
What happened on the 13th October?

A

70,000 people gathered to witness a miraculous solar phenomenon in which the sun appears to fall towards the earth- the crowd were wet from the rainfall but instantly dried when the sun appeared

27
Q

Faith healing

A

healing achieved by religious belief and prayer, rather than by medical treatment

28
Q

How to people behave when they experience faith healing?

A

Faint
Fall to the floor
Cold sensations
Tingles

29
Q

Why do some people believe they have been healed when they experience faith healing?

A

Influenced by the audience

30
Q

What makes corporate religious experiences unreliable?

A

People at the centre can gain money and fame
Persinger and Dawkins would argue that they always have a scientific explanation
Peer pressure can make you act differently

31
Q

What makes corporate experiences reliable?

A

Swinburne would argue the principle of credulity and testimony
Strength in numbers, e.g. Fatima

32
Q

Why does James say conversation experiences are the most likely to be both genuine and evidence of the divine?

A

Because the effects are life changing and long lasting it is unlikely that someone is lying it deceiving others

33
Q

Moral conversion experience

A

A change in behaviour, rejecting a destructive lifestyle in favour of a new one

34
Q

Intellectual conversion experiences

A

A change in the way of thinking about religion

35
Q

Social conversion experiences

A

Acceptance of a new social group and way of worship

36
Q

EXAMPLE OF CONVERSION EXPERIENCES: Nicky Cruz
What was his life like before the conversion?

A

Full of violence and pain because he was abused by both his parents

37
Q

EXAMPLE OF CONVERSION EXPERIENCES: Nicky Cruz
What was his conversion experience?

A

A pastor names Wilkerson said regardless of his actions he still loved him

38
Q

EXAMPLE OF CONVERSION EXPERIENCES: Nicky Cruz
What time of conversion was this?

A

Sudden (2 weeks), moral and social

39
Q

EXAMPLE OF CONVERSION EXPERIENCES: Nicky Cruz
What social factors might have impacted his conversion?

A

He was going to prison and was not in a good life path

40
Q

What does Otto say is rational study?

A

Seeking to understand God in a logical way (by making an argument with premises and a supported conclusion

41
Q

What does Otto say is a non- rational study?

A

Seeking to understand God based on subjective personal experience

42
Q

What did Otto mean when he said religious experiences are numinous?

A

Provoke feelings of awe and wonder behind everyday experiences

43
Q

What is ‘mysterium fascinas’ and who came up with it?

A

The experience of the divine fascinates us, attracts us towards it and compels us to it
Otto

44
Q

What is ‘mysterium tremendum’ and who came up with it?

A

The experience of the divine is terrifying and tremendous. We also feel repelled from it because it is so awe inspiring

45
Q

EXAMPLE: St Teresa of Avila
How many visions did she have?

A

29

46
Q

EXAMPLE: St Teresa of Avila
What does mystic mean?

A

Someone who seeks out religious experiences in order to gain more insight into a divine reality

47
Q

EXAMPLE: St Teresa of Avila
Why were her visions internal?

A

She describes her visions of Jesus as being inside of her mind and a feeling rather than a physical vision

48
Q

EXAMPLE: St Teresa of Avila
What did she believe about God?

A

God is within us rather than outside of us

Philosophy (4 decks)

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