Religious Experience Flashcards
A religious experience is beyond ordinary empirical evidence, another explanation may be:
Individual & subjective
Corporate
Ineffible
What is a religious experience?
It is an encounter with the divine - an experience of God as a personal reality
Individual & subjective
Where an individual is made aware of a transcendent reality
Corporate
Where a group of people appear to be influenced by powers beyond normal understanding
Ineffable
A state of feeling that defies expression
Emperical
Evidence from observation
Example of a religious experience - Corporate experience
Toronto Blessing
What is the ‘Toronto Blessing’?
Began in Jan 1994 - Toronto Airport Vineyard Church. People began to hysterically laugh, bark like dogs, being stuck in positions of paralysis. These experiences were attributed to the Holy Spirit entering people’s bodies. it spread all over the USA and eventually was bought into the UK at the Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, London
Opening essay quote - St Teresa of Avila
‘God establishes himself in the interior of his soul in such a way, that when I return myself, it is wholly impossible for me to doubt that I have been in God and in me.’
Why do religious experiences occur?
To make some kind of awareness to a person - changing their past behaviour because of a specific religious experience happening
What is a direct experience?
A direct experience is one which is where the person having the experience feels like they’re in contact with God.
What is an indirect experience?
An indirect experience is an inner experience of God’s action of creation.
Issue with direct and indirect experiences
They are less likely to prove that they’re true, this is because a person could be lying, be under the influence of alcohol or drugs or be mentally ill.
What is an awareness experience?
where a person sees the work of God when looking at the world
What is a numinous experience?
a numinous experience is where a person encounters the holiness of God.
What is a corporate experience?
It happens to a large number of people
What is a near-death experience?
When someone ‘dies’ and then comes back to life
Example of a near-death experience
Medical operation - Things such as the bright light of Jesus when the patient awakes.
What factors can lead to religious experiences?
Music, atmosphere and prayer
Why can music and atmosphere help lead to religious experiences?
Because most religions use music when they worship, where beliefs are shared together which produces a communal and social experience involving the heart and the mind.
Why can prayer help lead to religious experiences?
Prayer involves a person privately trying to communicate with God, for reasons such as: asking for guidance or forgiveness.
A common experience linked to prayer is….
When people begin to speak in tongues
What is speaking in tongues?
It is where a person begins to speak in a language that is unfamiliar to them.
Views towards the idea of music and atmosphere being a factor likely to cause a religious experience
It is likely to increase in the room when everyone is together doing the same thing, such as dancing, therefore they may get really involved with the music and the atmosphere in the room thinking that they may have had some kind of religious experience, when actually it is just in their imagination.
What sort of argument is the argument for the existence of God?
It is an ‘a posteriori’ argument
What is good about it being an ‘a posteriori’ argument?
It is good because it uses factual evidence
What does Richard Swinburne argue?
Richard Swinburne argues that because people do generally tell the truth, only certain evidence should be avoided, such as people under the influence of drugs, if there is particular evidence that does suggest that a person is lying and if someone has a mental illness. He believes that numerous people have had an experience that may seem to have religious values, for example they seem to have seen God.
What is the cumulative argument?
It is based on the view that if all religious experiences were put together then they would lean towards the fact that they are likely to be true, this is because of the amount of them.
What does the inductive argument show us?
how people explore testimonies of individuals who claim to have had religious experiences and how similar characteristics are found to draw up a conclusion that experiences can then be explained in terms of the existence of God.
What does the Principle of Testimony & Credulity show us?
Richard Swinburne claims that people do generally tell the truth and that means that their religious experiences shouldn’t always be doubted. It is likely to be untrustworthy in some ways due to the lack of evidence, it is very difficult to prove that people are actually telling the truth.
Richard Swinburne quote
‘An omnipotent and perfectly good creator will seek to interact with his creatures and, in particular, with human persons capable of knowing him’.
Paul Tillich - FOR
In Systematic Theology (1951) described 2 stages in a religious experience - an event or encounter followed by a special understanding.
Rudolf Otto - FOR
He coined the word ‘numinous’ to describe the experience of the holy - something that is wholly other than the natural, physical world.
Brian Davies - FOR
In Philosophy of Religion (1981) he argued that the fact that not everyone has had a religious experience was not grounds to dismiss testimonies of them.
Martin Buber - FOR
Argued that God reveals himself to people on a personal level as they experience him in life and the world.
What 4 features do religious experiences have?
1) A profound sense of union with God
2) A transcendence of time
3) A clear revelation
4) A sense of joy and well-being
William James concluded what 4 common factors of religious experience?
1) Ineffability
2) Noetic Quality
3) Transiency
4) Passivity
What is ineffability?
The person experiences a state of feeling that ‘defies expression, that no adequate report of its contents can be given in words’
What is Noetic quality?
The experience provides revelations of universal and eternal truths.
What is Transiency?
The experience is brief but profoundly important.
What is Passivity?
The person feels that they are taken over by a superior authority.
William James observed that religious experiences are emotional reactions directed at God. Give 4 examples:
1) reverence
2) a joyful desire to belong to God
3) a sense of union with the devine
4) a sense of dependance on God
What did William James believe? - FOR
He believed that religious experiences were extremely personal, but this made testimonies too subjective to be convincing proof of the existence of God for those who have not had such an experience.
Is Richard in favour of religious experience?
YES
CRITICISMS!
- Experiences are subjective and personal and not subject to objective testing.
- Can’t carry scientific experiences
- Experiences can be interpreted in different ways
- If God does not exist then there can’t be an experience of him!
- The testimony of religious believers is questionable - not reliable evidence
Michael Persinger - AGAINST
Constructed an electronic helmet which induced ‘religious experiences’ by putting small electric signals and magnetic vibrations into the temporal lobes - People who have worn this helmet claim to have had mystical experiences.
John Hick - AGAINST
Things could be interpreted in non-religious ways - it can be constituted in other ways and cannot carry the weight of the proof of God’s existence
AJ Ayer - AGAINST
In ‘Truth and Logic’ he dismissed the claims to religious experience on the grounds that although the fact that ‘people have religious experiences is interesting from psychological point of view, it does not in any way imply that there is such a thing as religious knowledge.’
Nicky Cruz
The leader of a New York gang The Mau-Maus - David Wilkerson spoke to Cruz, Cruz got angry & hit him. When Cruz later thought about what he’d done he felt guilty and started to prey.
